Social Skill Activities for Kids With Autism

Many children with autism see the world from a different perspective than others. Though all children with and without diagnosis's have different learning styles and needs the educational emphasis for children with autism has been social skills. The development of social skills can be attained through the use of social activities. Children with autism can benefit from activities that enhance their social skills.

Assess the Child

• To determine the social skill activity each child may benefit from assess the child's current level of performance. Watching the child for one or two days as he interacts with other people will let you identify some social skill areas that need targeted for intervention.

Recognize Emotions

• Pick a Pic is one activity that teaches children to become socially aware. The goal is to help children recognize emotions in others. Prepare for this activity by taking pictures of yourself making different facial expressions to show various emotions (angry, sad, happy, embarrassed, disappointed). Write the emotion on the back of the pictures. Go through the stack of pictures with your student and ask them to identify the emotion. They can flip the picture over and read the emotion to see if they got it correct. Talk with the student about the different emotions.

Choice Making

• Choice making is a social skill that allows a child to gain control over their environment. The more control the child has over small things the fewer power struggles you will encounter over non-negotiable task. Help teach choice making by providing the student with two firm choices. Begin this activity in a low stress environment such as at home or resource room. The child should be told their two choices. Do not waiver from those choices. The child with autism will soon learn he has control through choosing or he has no control. The key to success with this activity is consistency. It is a battle of the wills in the beginning but the outcome will be very beneficial to the child.

Cope with Stress

• People who develop typically eventually learn to cope with stress naturally. However, children with autism may need a social skill activity to help facilitate these skills. Tell the child it is okay to get mad and to be angry, we all do it. But it is not acceptable to perform negative behaviors due to anger or stress. The activity "Don't become a human volcano!" can help teach kids to regain control. This is a training activity that helps your child recognize a key phrase such as "stand back". You will use this key phrase when you see them becoming stressed. You say "stand back". Give the child a moment to process then say "think". In the beginning describe the thoughts to the child that he should be considering. Next, say "feel." Ask the child to name the emotion he is feeling. Last, say "respond". Provide the child a list of appropriate responses such as ignore, stomp foot, talk about it quietly.