Social Skills

All our kiddos seem to love balls..we made a social game out of them by getting really inexpensive solid colored balls large enough to write pictures on or words if your child can read.

You can purchase several balls and play 1:1 with your child or get as many participants as you want and as many themes as you can think when doing this game:)

This is the social ball games we did: Our child could read so it was easier to just write words but simple pics could work too I believe…make it as easy as you want and add on as you go:)

Emotions ball: (have each person act out the emotion picked out either by therapist, child, parent..)

Write:

• Happy
• sad
• excited
• sleepy
• mad
• hungry
• silly
• shy
• cold
• hot
• ect..

Pretend Ball:

• Animals~farm animals, zoo animals, pets..ect..
• occupations~doctor, teacher, fireman, ballerina, superman, cook..ect

Expressive ball:

• favorites~food, toys, shows, friends, colors, songs, candy..ect
• dance, hula hoop, jumping jacks, hop on one foot, give high 5’s to each others, turn around, shake your booty..ect:)

Tell me Ball:

• age, boy/girl, grade in school, phone #, city you live in, sibs names, parents names, friends names, grandparents names, pets names, ect….

Ask Ball: Use same ball as above but they have to ask you:)

As your child progresses you can variate and make the games as hard as you want…I had my daughter in a ABA social skill playgroup for almost 3 years and we came up with these ball games and they loved them..it really helped both the asd kiddos and the nt kids get to know each other better.

One of the first things in getting your child to engage with you is to get in his/her space and just be with them without intruding their space or making demands on them.  I remember our first ABA therapist came to our house in jeans and t-shirt..took off her shoes and went in livingroom and just sat next to Sarah very gently..like a lamb:) Sarah paid no attention to her at all and after a few minutes Sarah got up and went to the sunroom and the therapist quiet as a mouse slowly shadowed her into the sunroom too…no words just smiling. This went on for 6 hours! The next day the therapist brought a bag of toys with her and proceeded the same protocol but this time my dd looked at her with interest~surely because of the goody bag but that was the plan! The therapist took out a bottle of bubbles and had Sarah look at her before she would blow the wand..it took a few times before Sarah caught on to “Look at me” to get to see those wonderful bubbles but she figured it out:) The therapists cheered like a crazy cheerleader how happy she was that Sarah looked at her and blew bubbles over and over! This was the beginning of a beautiful relationship:) More to come!

Hello Everyone!

My name is Shelley and I have a beautiful daughter named Sarah who has HFA and doing well in first grade and this is our story.

In the beginning when she first got diagnosed she had the ALL of the following:

• No eye contact
• No pointing
• Appeared deaf
• No awareness of others including meL
• No language
• Night terrors
• Could not tolerate noise or large crowds at all
• Ate less than 5 foods
• Flat affect
• Extremely aloof
• Toe walked

We first got the diagnoses of autism from pediatrician who informed me she may never talk or have emotional connections~this same pediatrician was my oldest daughter’s doctor for almost ten years so I was in total shock. I was given no information or manual on what to do or resources. I was just given the diagnoses and sent home.  I then had her seen by a pediactric neurologist for the toe walking and he stated she was pdd which I asked what was the difference between that and autism? His response was they are both the same but since Sarah had no stims or behaviors that stood out she got a lesser label of pdd…still no manual or information of what to do. I finally got her to a developmental pediatrician who did a full evaluation on her for 3 hours and told me she was mild to moderate autistic and why & a few surprises I didn’t even notice but the best part was he gave me a folder full of information on what to do!

The greatest advice he gave me was that Autism is treatable and early intervention is crucial!  He told me to keep her engaged at all times as much as I could…this was a unimaginable feat since she was so aversive to anyone at the time. 

I was also told to get her into ABA therapy as many hours as I could to teach her skills that she would not be able to learn as her peers would automatically.

 I was lucky to live nearby a college that taught ABA and had BCBA program so within 2 weeks I had a full program in place for Sarah of 30 hours a week and also 2 hours of speech in place too. I also read “Let Me Hear Your Voice”  by Catherine Maurice about a mom that used ABA to recover both her kids with autism.   

It really motivated me to get real busy~ I even made my husband read it since all this therapy was going to be paid for out of pocket I needed him to be as passionate about getting it for her as I was.

We did ABA for almost 4 years along with a special diet/ABA playgroup and all of Sarah’s issues that got her diagnosed initially have now completely resolved! 

She is completely mainstreamed in school since kindergarten with no supports and the only thing I am helping her on is social skills.  She is able to mix well with kids and has no problems playing games and joining them but she hasn’t made a special best friend yet..we are working on itJ

I hope to give other parents inspiration and share all the things we have done to get her to this point. It was a lot of hard work but so worth it!  

Below is a picture of Sarah when she first started ABA therapy & had no interest in play or eye contact~the second picture is how she looks today after therapy~fully engaged with us!

This is a place for ideas related to social skills training, inclusive education, social skills in the community, and other social skills issues.

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