Social Skills Curriculum

[butterfly113]

We have been going through speech therapy for pragmatic language disorder. We have also been seeing a child psychologist every other week. With the child psych we do mostly cognitive behavior therapy, and reinforcing what we have done in speech. All of this has worked well. HOWEVER, the child psych is now moving. I have been searching for another Dr, and it is proving to not be such an easy task.

One I found doesn't take kids over 6... ds is 10! Another is not taking new patients. Another doesn't 'see' Asperger patients, yet said she could see him, since clinically she is trained... ??? hmmmm.....

I did find one that sees lots of Asperger patients. The receptionist said he was one of the best she has found, just moved here to the area, her son is thriving... blah blah blah.... OK. SO, I make the consult appt.

Yesterday this DR basically tells me he is NOT taking new patients. He primarily does testing and assessments. He has some Aspie patients, but only sees them on as needed. He THEN tells me, there really isn't much in the way of therapy. What books have you read he asks.... So I tell him I'm about 1/2 way through Attwood book... he says, well there are some resources in the back, and 'curriculums' and such you can use at home.
He then also says he has found most Aspies are not typically responsive to therapy. You can give them the 'input', but they have to choose to use it.

I thought I was going to throw something. WHY ON EARTH did I get a consult if he is not taking new patients. And where does he get the quacked perspective! SERIOUSLY! GRRR.... So I asked, can you explain the progress my kids has made in the last 6 months if they are usually not receptive.??? He said, well maybe the dr you are working with knows something I don't... but in my experience.... BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!!!!!! What???!!!!!

So, I left, cried in the truck, and poor ds was so confused. Cried last night, nightmares, headache today... I have been on the net looking for 'curriculum' per se. I have come across several books on social skills, pragmatic language etc....

Has anyone use any resources or curr that they have found to be very helpful with Aspies???

If you read this far, thank you! Rant over.

[Pam H]

Hugs to you, Butterfly. I've seen some things I'm thinking about, but have no idea how well they would work. I'm waiting and watching your post. My ds is 6yo.

[chiguirre]

Have you looked around for ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) based programs in your area? My ds attends a social skills class once a week at a school for autistic kids and it's truly excellent. You also might get good leads from your local autism support group.

Good luck!

[sbgrace]

The best program I found is RDI (Relationship Development Intervention). It's a developmental approach. They have gone back developmentally from birth and identified all the steps neurotypical kids make that are missing in spectrum kids of all stripes. The program helps the child make discoveries in those areas. http://www.rdiconnect.com/blogs/rdi-culture/archive/2010/04/19/what-is-rdi.aspx

It's not a quick fix but works great with homeschooling and my son has made lots of progress. It's the most comprehensive program I found for actually improving autism related areas in my son. For example, he would rarely reference our faces for information when he was confused (let alone something more complex like pick up that the person speaking might be using sarcasm based on tone of voice and check their faces to see if they are joking). Now he does that naturally in life and it's completely due to discoveries in RDI. Our insurance covers it as we are fortunate to live in a state that covers autism related therapies via insurance mandate. I know not everyone has autism therapies covered via insurance. It has been far less than things like weekly OT or speech. I'm sure it varies by area. It's far less expensive than ABA (which I personally couldn't see using with a 10 year old Aspie).

[Laurie4b]

Check around at OT practices, too. Some of them run social skills groups. You might also look into summer camps for Aspies, though summer camps for anyone are $$$.

[kathkath]

My 5yo hasn't been diagnosed with anything but the speech therapist at her school is concerned about her pragmatic language. She suggested this.

http://www.modelmekids.com/

I ordered several of their products but they haven't arrived yet.

[chiguirre]

ABA is expensive, but ds's social skills class only costs $50 a month. The teachers use ABA techniques, but it's not an ABA session at all. Lots of ABA centers offer classes for Aspergers/HFA kids. Since they're group based, they're a lot less expensive than 1 on 1 therapy.

[butterfly113]

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and encouragement. I will look into the links posted. At this age, ABA is probably not the best option. However, ironically, when ds was younger and in preschool my approach and ways of handling things with him were similar in methodology to ABA. GO figure! :lol:

I had read about RDI several months ago, when all of the Aspergers diagnosis started etc. I need to look into it more as well. We are also considering Neurofeedback.

Thanks ladies!

[Misty]

I have a couple of books by Jed Baker that *look* good, but I have not used them yet.. One is the Social Skills Picture Book.. It's an entire book of role-playing situations, with pictures for every situation so child can see facial expressions, body language, etc.

I'm planning to use it very soon with my 7 & 9 Aspie daughters. My 7yr old has been in a social skills group before (at her autism school), but my 9yr old has never had a social skills class of any type and she so desperately needs one.

I've also heard very good things about Model Me Kids videos.

[brownie]

Are your only concerns social or do you have any attention and/or behavioral concerns (e.g. aggression)? Brownie

[cjbeach]

I have yet to buy this but on a private ASD board I belonged to a few women in CA have been part of this program and raved about it.

www.socialthinking.com (http://www.socialthinking.com)

I called the very helpful office last year and was instructed to start out with the Thinking about You, thinking about ME book (I hope that's the title without me looking it up).

We've also done ABA in the past. My son goes to ABA place in the afternoons now but it is more for social skills. I do not have a social skills program near me but there are ABA providers or SPT providers that run social skill groups one or twice a week. The one program I spoke to for a SS group was just fantastic, they totally "got" the kids and what needed to be worked on in a SS group, IMO.

I just read Parenting your Asperger Child by Sohn and Grayson (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Parenting-Your-Asperger-Child/Alan-Sohn/e/9781440646751/?itm=10&USRI=parenting+your+aspergers+child). I totally recommend it. They have pages of verbal cues that I copied and laminated and use... constantly.

HTH!