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| The Development and Implementation of Social Skills Groups for Children and Adolescents With Asperger Syndrome |
| Friday, May 28, 2010 |
| 6:00 PM–9:00 PM |
| Mission B (Grand Hyatt) |
| Area: AUT; Domain: Service Delivery |
| CE Instructor: Cheryl Ecott, Ph.D. |
| KELLEY HARRISON PISTACCHIO (The Groden Center, Inc.) |
| Description: Several behavioral intervention strategies have been developed to address social skills deficits in the population of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD; Stahmer et. al., 2003). With the staggering increase in the prevalence of ASDs (now reported to be 1 in 91; HRSA, 2009), there is even greater need for services to address the special needs of these individuals. Group-based interventions have been demonstrated to be effective in teaching social skills to individuals with ASDs though generalization to community settings has been limited (Williams, et.al, 2007). This interactive workshop will include a brief overview of the characteristics of Asperger syndrome followed by step by step guidelines for developing and implementing comprehensive social skills programs for this population, including a parent training component. This will include recruitment and marketing, assessment, development of materials, identification of skills to target, protocol development, evidence-based teaching strategies, methods to promote generalization, and program evaluation. Samples of teaching materials and session outlines will be provided and some group activities will be demonstrated with the audience. Several video segments from different age groups will also be presented. |
| Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of the workshop, the participant will be able to do the following:
1. identify the core components of establishing a social skills group program,
2. describe at least three different evidence-based social skills teaching strategies,
3. describe at least three group activities designed to teach a specific social skill,
4. identify methods for promoting generalization of social skills to community settings,
5. describe methods for assessing areas of need and program effectiveness. |
| Activities: Participants will be engaged in a variety of small group activities designed to provide hands-on experience in the implementation of social skills group activities. This will include activities in which the participants act as group members as well as group leaders. |
| Audience: This workshop will be beneficial for clinicians involved or interested in starting social skills programs for children and/or adolescents with Asperger’s syndrome, high functioning autism, or related social disabilities. |
| Content Area: Practice |
| Instruction Level: Intermediate |