How to Use Videos to Teach Social Skills to Children With Autism

Children diagnosed with autism have difficulty relating to others, even trusted friends and family members. Some of the most basic social skills are lost on autistic children, such as simple greetings or manners. Videos that show children how to relate to others are a helpful resource for many children struggling with autism and the families and educators who want to help them participate in society. These videos display desired behaviors and provide a reference for the child to follow or at least mimic in order to better relate to the world.

Things You'll Need

• videos modeling appropriate social behavior

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Instructions

• 1

  Clear other distractions away during the video lessons. As much as possible, clear the room of toys or games that will divert the child's attention away from the video. This will restrict their attention to the videos with only limited distractions and will help him internalize the information.

• 2

  Understand how your child learns. Some autistic children really benefit from visual stimulation like what's happening on screen in a video. If you find your child is more of an auditory learner, describe the action taking place in the video while you watch together. Use your child's individual learning style to allow him to better engage in the information being presented.

• 3

  Act out some of the scenes from the video and ask the child questions based on the material presented. For example, one of the videos might show an interaction between friends at a birthday party. Act out party scenes and ask the child how he should react in these situations. When faced with situations modeled in the video during day-to-day life, ask your child what the actor in the video would do.

• 4

  Make watching these videos a regular part of the child's routine. The repetition of reviewing this material will help make the exemplary actions depicted in the videos become the norm and encourage your child to follow this lead in his everyday life.