Social and Communication Intervention for Children with Autism

By Kathleen Ann Quill, Ed.D.

Children with autism pose a perplexing and inconsistent puzzle when it comes to their social skills and communication development. You need research-based techniques that will enable you to support the acquisition of these vital skills. In this guide, you'll get this and more as you

• apply the new state-of-the-art assessment tool to guide your curriculum for individual students
• discover a range of proven strategies that combine the best of behavioral and developmental intervention practices
• find hundreds of suggested activities to build social play, group skills, and communication in fun and creative ways
• chart your interventions with the easy-to-use data collection forms and guidelines

This comprehensive intervention guide and accompanying activities are easily adapted to develop a curriculum for both children who are verbal and those who use augmentative and alternative communication, and it can be implemented at home or in the classroom. Excellent for educators and speech language pathologists, this practical, user-friendly resource gives you the methods you need to build social and communication skills in children with autism.

Preface
Acknowledgments

1. The Complexity of Autism
   Kathleen Ann Quill
   
   
   • The Nature of Autism
   • Cognition
   • Core Skills for Social and Communication Development
   • Social Development
   • Communication Development
   • Rituals in Autism
   • Summary
     
     
2. The Child's Perspective
   Kathleen Ann Quill
   
   
   • Cognitive Patterns
   • The Paradox of Social-Communicative Interaction
   • Core Social and Communication Challenges
   • Social Challenges
   • Communication Challenges
   • Driven to Sameness
   • Unknowns
   • Summary
     
     
3. Assessment of Social and Communication Skills
   Kathleen Ann Quill, Kathleen Norton Bracken, and Maria E. Fair
   
   
   • Assessment of Social and Communication Skills
   • Typical Social and Communication Development
   • The Assessment of Social and Communication Skills in Children with Autism
   • Summary
   • Appendix A: Assessment of Social and Communication Skills for Children with Autism
   • Appendix B: Glossary of Terms for the Assessment of Social and Communication Skills for Children with Autism
     
     
4. Designing Intervention
   Kathleen Ann Quill
   
   
   • Program Planning
   • Framework for Designing Core Skills Intervention
   • Framework for Designing Social Intervention
   • Framework for Designing Communication Intervention
   • Framework for Understanding Ritualistic Behaviors
   • Program Accountability: Monitoring Progress
   • Summary
   • Appendix A: Sample Target Goals and Behavioral Objectives
     
     
5. Strategies to Enhance Social and Communication Skills
   Kathleen Ann Quill
   
   
   • Best Practices Debate
   • Rationale for Combining Behavioral and Developmental Approaches
   • Teaching Opportunities
   • Organizational Supports
   • Social Supports
   • Visually Cued Instruction
   • Augmentative and Alternative Communication Supports
   • Intervention for Play and Communication Rituals
   • Child Variables to Consider for Intervention
   • The Emotional Needs of the Child
   • Summary
   • Appendix A: Graphic Displays
     
     
6. Core Skills Curriculum
   Julie Ann Fiore
   
   
   • Targeting Core Skills Objectives
   • Using the Activity Sheets
   • Monitoring Progress
   • Activity Sheets for Core Skills Intervention
     • Nonverbal Social Interaction
     • Imitation
     • Organization
   • Appendix A: Core Skills Progress Sheets
     
     
7. Social Skills Curriculum
   Maria E. Fair, Kathleen Ann Quill, and Kathleen Norton Bracken
   
   
   • Targeting Social Skills
   • Using the Activity Sheets
   • Using the Community Planning Guide
   • Monitoring Progress
   • Activity Sheets for Social Skills Intervention
     
     • Solitary Play
     • Social Play
     • Group Skills
   • Community Social Skills: Community Planning Guide
   • Appendix A: Play Interest Survey
   • Appendix B: Social Play Task Analysis
   • Appendix C: Social Skills Progress Sheets
   • Appendix D: Community Planning Guide
     
     
8. Communication Skills Curriculum
   Kathleen Norton Bracken
   
   
   • Targeting Communication Objectives
   • Using the Activity Sheets
   • Monitoring Progress
   • Activity Sheets for Communication Skills Intervention
     
     • Basic Communicative Functions
     • Socioemotional Skills
     • Basic Conversational Skills
   • Appendix A: Communication Skills Progress Sheets

References

Resources

• Formal Assessments
• Augmentative and Alternative Communication Devices
• Children's Books
• Children's Software
• Children's Music
• Toys
• Distributors
• Web Sites
• Recommended Readings