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Carla Schmidt, Ph.D.

Session Objectives� Define social competence and discuss importance of

this skill set

� Look at current best practices for addressing social competence deficits for individuals with HFA/AS

� Review results from a multiple treatments study that implemented two peer-mediated interventions with adolescents with HFA/AS in a school setting

� Review strategies that may promote social competence for adolescents with HFA/AS

What is social competence?� A person’s ability to successfully engage in social

interactions and relationships with other individuals (Odom, McConnell, & McEvoy, 1992)

� Socially competent individuals are able to initiate and maintain interactions with others, even in difficult situations

� Reciprocal

� Appropriate for the context

� Effective in reaching a social goal (Guralnick, 1992)

� Outcome of successful social competence is the development and maintenance of relationships and friendships

What does social competence look

like?� Adhering to social conventions

� Eye contact

� Maintaining appropriate social space

� Social gestures

� Reciprocal interactions� Acknowledging

� Responding

� Appropriate responses to other’s emotions/thoughts

Critical Social Skills:� Eye Contact

� Joint Attention

� Responding to Initiations� Repeating, expanding, or clarifying a comment

� Suggesting joint activity (play organizer)

� Taking turns

� Maintaining a topic of conversation

� Describing a social activity

Social Competence Challenges Associated

with HFA/AS (Solomon et al., 2004; Bauminger, 2002;

Stichter et al., 2010)

� Deficits in Executive Functioning� Difficulties in planning

� Difficulties in shifting

� Impulsivity

� Deficits in Theory of Mind� Recognizing there are other perspectives

� Perspective taking

� Facial Expressions/Mindblindness� Recognition of various expressions of others

� Interpreting how others are feeling

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What does a lack of social competence

look like?� Withdrawn

� Preferring to always spend time alone when social opportunities are available

� Engaging in problem behaviors toward others

� Aggression toward others

� Odd social conventions

� Lack of reciprocity

� Inability to maintain topic

� Responding inappropriately to others emotions

Why target social competence?Children with ASD demonstrate decreased

ability to:� Initiate & respond to social bids from peers and

adults

� Sustain social interactions with peers

� Refrain from demonstrating unusual or bizarre behaviors

Why target social competence?� Lack of social competence may result in isolation

and peer rejection in educational settings influencing children’s ability to receive educational services in these setting (Odom et al., in press)

� Lack of appropriate social competence impact post school outcomes

� Therefore, it is critical to target social skills for primary intervention

Why teach social competence?� Doesn’t naturally occur without instruction

� Children may lack the communicative & cognitive skills to develop SC without instruction

� Spending time in integrated/inclusive settings alone will not result in SC

� Poor social skills interfere with successful integration

Evidence-based Interventions � Recently the National Professional Development

Center and the National Standards Project conducted an extensive review of the ASD literature in an attempt to identify current evidence-based practices specific to individuals with ASD.

� Similar results were found….we will focus on the National Standards Project

National Standards ProjectGoals:

� Provide the strength of evidence supporting education and behavioral treatments that target core characteristics of ASD;

� Describe the age, diagnosis, and skill/behaviors targeted for improvement;

� Identify the limitations of the current body of research on ASD treatment and;

� Offer recommendations for engaging in evidence-based practices for ASD (NAC, 2009)

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National Standards Project� The Process:

� Review of the literature from 1957 to 2007 and included 775 articles;

� Each study was classified into four categories that reflected the quality, quantity and consistency of research findings for individuals with ASD;

� The four categories include:

� Established,

� Emerging,

� Unestablished

� Ineffective or Harmful.

National Standards Project�The Results:

�A total of 11 treatments were identified as Established and 22 as Emerging.

�Established for HFA/AS = 2

�Emerging for HFA/AS = 4

National Standards Project� Established Treatments for Individuals with HFA/AS

1. Modeling

2. Story Based Intervention Package

� Emerging Treatments for Individuals with HFA/AS

1. Cognitive Behavioral Intervention Package

2. Initiation Training

3. Multi-component Package

4. Social Skills Package

National Standards Report� Why is this important?

� Indicates that much research is needed to determine the best way to teach social competence to adolescents with HFA/AS.

� Some EBP that have been established for ASD in general may be effective for teaching adolescents with HFA/AS; however, there is a lack of research to support this notion.

Peer mediated interventions for

adolescents with HFA/AS� The purpose of this study was to explore the

efficacy of two peer-mediated interventions for adolescents with HFA/AS in natural settings. Specifically, this study aimed to compare the effects of these interventions on the generalization and maintenance of social skills acquired in the Social Competence Intervention-School (SCI-S) program, a school-based social competence program.

Participant Characteristics:� Participant Characteristics (N=3):

� Confirmed diagnosis of ASD

� Between the ages of 11 and 14

� A full scale IQ of 75 or above

� Must participate in a general education setting for at least one hour a day.

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Peer Participants (N=3):� Peers must be willing to participate in the training and

data collection phases

� Must exhibit a good attendance record

� Have a record of compliance with instruction

� Have the ability to make up any school work missed during the training

� Frequently interacts with peers in an appropriate way

� Able to follow through with assigned task

� Matched on age, gender, and class schedule

Peer Training:� Peer Training

� Six sessions implemented once a week across 6 weeks, concurrent with the SCI-S program

� Check-up sessions during intervention

� Purpose� Background information on ASD/HFA/AS

� Including elements from SCI-S curriculum

� Strategies and supports to implement interventions

� Structure (Davis, Langone, & Malone, 1996; Goldstein, et al., 1992; Laushey & Heflin, 2000)

� Review� Skill introduction� Adult modeling� Skill rehearsal/role-play� Feedback

Peer Initiation Intervention:Goal: To help your peer buddy keep the conversation going

1. Sit in the seat next to or across from your peer buddy

2. Get your peer buddy’s attention by saying their name or using a greeting

3. Initiate a conversation using topic starters or comment on an ongoing activity or conversation

4. Respond to peer buddy’s response

5. Repeat steps 2-4.

Peer Initiation Intervention:� Initiation Scripts and Conversation Starters

� Where were you born?

� How many people are in your family?

� What is the best thing that has ever happened to you?

� The things I like to do are______. What about you?

� The TV shows that I watch are ______. What about you?

Peer Initiation Intervention:� Initiating Conversations using Comments:

� I see you are reading “Harry Potter”

� I like your KU sweatshirt, I have one just like that.

� I heard you talking about Penguins of Madagascar, that show is funny.

Peer Proximity Intervention:

Goal: Sit next to your buddy and wait for him to initiate

1. Sit in the seat next to or across from your peer buddy

2. Do not initiate with your peer buddy, wait for your buddy to initiate with you.

3. If your peer buddy initiates with you respond appropriately for one conversational turn

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Dependent Variables:� Appropriate Initiation (Adult, Trained peer, Untrained

peer)

� Inappropriate Initiation (A, TP, UP)

� Appropriate Response (A, TP, UP)

� Inappropriate Response (A, TP, UP)

� Appropriate Continuation (A, TP, UP)

� Inappropriate Continuation (A, TP, UP)*Definitions modified from Morrison, Kamps, Garcia, & Parker, 2001 and

Lee, Odom, Loftin, 2007.

Design:� Multiple Treatments Design (ABCDCD)

� Multiple treatments designs are used to evaluate the effects of two or more interventions on a behavior

� The primary purpose of this design is to determine whether any of the interventions were effective and if so, which is the most effective (Tawney & Gast).

� A=Baseline

� B=SCI-S Curriculum

� C=Peer Initiation Intervention

� D=Peer Proximity Intervention

Results: Results

ResultsDiscussion:� Research

� This study indicates the potential efficacy of using peer mediated interventions with adolescents with HFA/AS

� Adolescents peers may serve as meaningful intervention agents to promote generalization and maintenance of intervention skills

� Practice� The peer mediated interventions fit easily into a school

setting

� Minimal time was needed to train and support peers

� Positive social gains demonstrated across multiple school settings

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Recall: Social Competence

Challenges Associated with HFA/AS� Deficits in Executive Functioning

� Difficulties in planning

� Difficulties in shifting

� Impulsivity

� Deficits in Theory of Mind

� Recognizing there are other perspectives

� Perspective taking

� Facial Expressions/Mindblindness

� Recognition of various expressions of others

� Interpreting how others are feeling

� Now lets look at some strategies to address these challenges………………….

Strategies: Facial Expressions

� Reading the Mind in the Eye � http://www.questionwritertracker.com/quiz/61/Z4MK3TK

B.html

� Do2Learn website (Avatar emotion activity)� http://www.do2learn.com/games/facialexpressions/face.ht

m

� Facial Expression Games:� The Understanding Faces Game (Ages 6-12)

� http://www.childtherapytoys.com/store/product5739.html

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Strategies: Facial Expressions� Facial Expression Games

� Facial Expression Flashcards (make your own)

� Include: neutral, happy, sad, fear, anger, disgust, surprise, boredom, pride.

� Imitating and Guessing About Faces – have students pick a card, mimic the face, and the have others guess the correct emotion.

� Explaining Facial Expressions – have students pick a card and invent a reason for the facial expression on the card, “she is sad because she lost her dog”.

� Matching – create a set of scenario cards that can be matched with the facial expression cards (e.g. someone receiving a gift, a person being ignored by others, a foot being stepped on)

Strategies: Practicing Conversations� Provide students with a pre-determined topic, cue

cards and timers for the initial practice� Next step is to work on how to ask questions, comment,

and how to end the conversation appropriately when the timer expires

� Use games that involve explanations and give each student a time limit to explain their rationale � Collaborative project [i.e, carving a pumpkin,

decorating a cookie cake]� Apples to Apples� In a Pickle, and � Jenga

Strategies: Understanding Emotions

• Emotion thermometer

• Do2Learn website (Feelings Game)• http://www.do2learn.com/games/feelingsgame/index

.htm

• “The Incredible 5-point scale”

• Comic strip conversations about emotions

• Video charades and role playing

Emotional Thermometers

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Description Level of Emotion Situation

I could lose control.

5When loud talking and laughing keep going. School bells and the smell of fish.

This can really upset me.

4When the boys laugh all at once. When I can’t do my work. When I make a mistake.

This can make me nervous.

3When I hear the boys talking louder. When the desks scrape on the floor. When someone laughs out loud.

This sometimes bothers me.

2The sound of rain on the roof. When I can’t have my turn right away.

This never bothers me.

1Doing my work . Reading teen magazines. Watching TV.

Strategies: Social Problem Solving� Problem Solving stories based on a similar problem

the student has encountered

� Discuss self control strategies in order to promote positive interactions with peers during group problem solving

� Place students in situations where they must agree on a solution

� Role play agreeing and disagreeing on solutions to problems

Strategies: Social Problem SolvingChristopher was in eighth grade. He was one of the smartest kids inhis class. He loved to read books and read the news on the internet. One day in science class the teacher had the students get into groupsof four for an experiment. Christopher was placed in a group with kidswho he did not think were as smart as he was. He was annoyed withthe teacher for making him be in this group. He thought he could do abetter job if he worked alone. The teacher made him work in the group. He felt insulted and decided not to participant. He starred at the floorand would not talk to anyone in his group. When it was time to sharethe results of their experiment, Christopher's group had not completedthe assignment. Everyone in the group was given an F on theassignment. Christopher was very angry at his teacher.

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Strategies: Social Problem Solving1. Why did Christopher stare at the floor?

2. Was it OK for Christopher to be angry at his teacher?

3. Do you think the other kids in Christopher's group were angry with him?

4. What would you do if you were a member of Christopher's group and you got an F?

Strategies: Social Problem Solving� Teach self-control strategies!

� Stop: Count to ten. Take a deep breath

� I can:

� Walk away and think of a plan for next time

� Go to a safe spot and develop a plan

� Do a relaxation exercise

� Write or think about my emotions

� Talk to someone

Strategies: Social Problem Solving� The RIBEYE method can when solving problems:

� Relax

� Identify the problem

� Brainstorm solutions

� Evaluation

� Yes to one

� Encourage yourself

Strategies: Social Problem SolvingLost At Sea:You are adrift on a private yacht in the South Pacific. As a

consequence of a fire of unknown origin, much of the yacht and its contents have been destroyed. The yacht is now slowly sinking. Your location is unclear because of the destruction of critical navigational equipment and because you and the crew were distracted trying to bring the fire under control. Your best estimate is that you are approximately one thousand miles south-southwest of the nearest land. Below is a list of items that are intact and undamaged after the fire. In addition to these articles, you have a serviceable, rubber life raft with oars large enough to carry yourself, the crew, and all the items listed below. The total contents of all survivors’ pockets are a package of candy, several books of matches, and five one-dollar bills.

You can grab ten of these items. Decide as a group which ten items.

Strategies: Social Problem Solving� ______Compass� ______Mirror� ______5 gal can of water� ______Mosquito netting� ______One case of US Army rations� ______Maps of the Pacific Ocean� ______Seat cushion (flotation device)� ______2 gal can of oil-gas mixture� ______Small transistor radio� ______Shark repellent� ______Twenty square feet of opaque plastic� ______Fifteen feet of nylon rope� ______Two boxes of chocolate bars� ______Fishing Kit

What strategies do you use?