Title: Social Skills Training for Children with Special Needs
Author: Anonymous

Social skills are very important to have in life, but children with special needs often need more help with their development. This is why social skills training was created and continued to be studied. Social skills training can be quite effective if taught properly and if all the conditions have been met. Training of this sort must be individualized for the child. Studies where the training was individualized showed a much higher rate of success than those where a standard course material was followed. When evaluating social skill, Dr.'s look at three main elements, cognitive, behavioural, and
environmental factors.  

Preschoolers choose friends based on whom they see regularly. They do not recognize that others think differently than they do as the mind does not develop this ability until later in development. At this age the child has difficulty characterizing whether the actions of others are accidental or intentional. This leads to difficulty with keeping friendships. To help children create and keep friends it is important that teachers or parental figures demonstrate positive interaction with all children. This means one does not discriminate against any child and works extra hard to include them in all aspects in the classroom i.e. Circle time, creative time, free play time and outdoor time. Although a child may have a special need it should not be pointed out to others in the group as this will often bring nothing more than negative attention.

An excellent practice is to try and find similarities to help children understand that everyone is different. Parallel play is most common for children with special needs. They believe that they are different then other children and don't have anything in common. To make the children feel comfortable have all the children interact together doing something they all like doing, thus helping to create a bond. For example when speaking with Jenny about playing a specific board game it is helpful to let her know that Johnny also likes this game and he is fun to play with.

Remember, focus on the positive things that children do and always look for similarities as apposed to differences. Also, remember that every child is not the same and what works with one will not always hold true with another. Socializing a child can have a major impact on the future development of a child and thus the earlier one recognizes that the child is having problems the earlier steps can be taken to correct the problem.

Possible Specific Symptoms of Autism
Title: The Importance of Early Diagnosis in Autism
Author : Autism Society Ontario

For newborns to eighteen month olds with autism - At 18 months, an infant with autism may

•Be late to smile or not smile
•Not demonstrate attachment behaviour especially to his/her primary caregiver
•Avoid people’s gaze
•Not reach out, even in anticipation of being picked up
•Not seek comforting or may be difficult to soothe
•Prefer to be alone
•Not cuddle
•Exhibit simple repeated actions with their body, such as flapping their hands or rocking
•Exhibit simple repeated action with objects, such as the wheels of a toy car
•Have an intense dislike of any changes in routines or the surroundings
•Show a lack of nonverbal communication:
-no gestures to communicate
-no response to body language
-not copying facial expressions or gestures, such as pointing, clapping or waving
•Show a lack of response to attempts to communicate with the infant
 
 For one and a half to four year olds with autism - Children with autism may

•Prefer to be alone
•Not come for comfort, even when ill, hurt or tired
•Not imitate or have impaired imitation
•Avoid people’s gaze
•Lack an awareness of other people’s existence
•An older child may exhibit a failure to greet people or take turns while playing or interacting
•Have delayed language development
•Have weak language comprehension
•Fail to develop language for communication, e.g. the child does not use language to ask for something
•Lack appropriate gestures
•Have unusual first words
•Tend to repeat what is said to him or her
•Display an unusual manner of talking, e.g. with unusual tone, off-rhythm, squeaky, or sing-song voice
•Strangely manipulate objects, e.g. spinning them or aligning them
•Have unusual body movements, e.g. hand-flicking or hand twisting, spinning, head-banging, or whole body movements
•Persistently be preoccupied with parts of objects
•Show an attachment to unusual objects
•Show marked distress over changes in trivial aspects of the environment
•Show an unreasonable insistence on following routines in precise detail
•Have difficulty in toilet training
•Have extreme fears
 
In children aged four years & older - Children with autism may

•Not imitate others
•Treat people like objects
•Lack an awareness of the existence or feelings of others
•Not play with other children
•Lack or have unusual emotional responses
•Be socially unresponsive
•Be indifferent or respond negatively to physical affection
•Show no interest in making friends
•Not understand conventions of social interaction, such as turn-taking
•Not initiate interactions
•Be socially awkward
•Show little expressive language
•Have delayed language development
•Rarely or never use appropriate gestures
•Show improper use of pronouns, statements and questions
•Fail to initiate conversation
•Say strange things
•Have unusual tone or rhythm of speech
•Not use speech in a meaningful way
•Repeat remarks made by others
•Frequently make irrelevant remarks
•Have great difficulty with abstract language
•Be preoccupied with one or only a few narrow interests
•Have an excessive need for sameness
•Show an attachment to unusual objects
•Show market distress over changes in trivial aspects of the environment
•Show unreasonable insistence on following routines in a particular and rigid way
•Twirl sticks, or flap pieces of paper
•Be fascinated with spinning objects
•Adhere to routines
•Be very good at rote memory tasks such as repeating lists of items or facts