For children with autism spectrum disorder making friends and social interactions are difficult, this is due to the social skills deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder.
For those parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder it can be frustrating trying to interact with your child when they appear detached living in their own world, preferring their own company, sameness, and routines.
This detachment is due to autistic social skills deficits, these autistic social skills deficits are common in autism.
Typically developing children will form natural bonds with parents, be inquisitive and have the desire to please and interact with those within their world both family and peers. However with autism children social skills are not developed naturally, and in most cases children with autism spectrum disorder will need direct teaching of social and communication skillsto help them develop socially.
For many parents the idea of their child being lonely and not making friends is difficult, many children with autism spectrum disorder choose to play alone. But some kids with autism spectrum disorder for example those with high functioning or mild autism do want to be social but lack the ability to form friendships and be social.
Many parents of kids with autism spectrum disorder turn to autism visual supports to help their child learn social and communication skills effectively. For example a popular choice with parents is a how to make friends social story. Generally kids with autism are visual learners and respond very well to autism visual supports such as social skills stories, this has now become the answer many parents are looking for, and over the past twenty years autism social stories have grown into one of the most significant autism supports available.
Using autism social stories as a strategy to help children with autism to make and maintain friendships has proven to be very successful.
Experts agree using autism social stories as a strategy is beneficial. Therefore using a how to make friends social story for kids with autism can help you show your child how they can make friends visually. Generally kids with autism benefit from the visual images and representations in the social story, using the social story as a visual step by step plan to help them master and understand the skill or behavior such as making friends.
Autism visual supports can be downloaded from sites such as www.autismsocialstories.com
These social stories show kids with autism visually with appropriate text the what, why, where and when helping them understand and feel more comfortable with situations, skills and behaviors.
For example an how to make friends social story for kids with autism will describe and visually show the autistic child how to approach making friends, what they can do, focusing on the key points the social cues, it describes and shows the child what, why, where and when and suggests possible responses the child might like to give. It will suggest possible language for approaching other children, that autistic children can easily understand and use.
To learn more about autism social stories and how they could benefit your autistic child visit any of the following sites:
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