Below, there are twenty more captioned photos like this. You print them out and use them as part of your visual-based social skills teaching for children on the autism spectrum.
This is Part 2 of a several-part series on how to teach “empathy” skills to children on the autism spectrum. (Click here to review Part 1, which is important to read)
To restate our premise: Children with ASD many find it quite difficult to both “feel” another person’s distress and react to it appropriately. They need prompting and practice. The visual prompts in Part 1 establish a “how-to” foundation. The numerous captioned photos I provide for you below provide a wide variety of practice scenarios. Together, the lesson visuals from Part 1 and Part 2 will allow to conduct really worthwhile lessons/therapy sessions for kids with autism who are struggling to learn these social skills.
One of my products deals with a wide variety of social skills issues affecting youth with ASD. These are Ryuu cards. For more information, click on the image.
How to use the visuals below:
1. Click on each, copy to your desktop, enlarge if you want, and print. Alternatively, you may copy each image to blank powerpoint slides, then show it on a Smartboard or project it with an LCD projector. Don’t use photos that seem inappropriate for your student/client.
2. Use each picture as a foundation for role play practice.
a. Role play where you, the adult, play the person in distress
b. Role play where pairs of children play roles of distressed person and helper
c. Role play where you play the role of the person showing concern, but you make mistakes when you do it–with eye contact, tone of voice, what you say, etc. The kids watch and point out your mistakes.
3. Use the downloads from Part I as prompts to keep the role play performances on track.
4. This all takes on a new dimension if you can video the role plays and play them back. Look at this youtube video for very basic guidance on how to get started doing this: http://bit.ly/zrCHrB
Don’t forget the downloads below–I think you will find they really make your social skills lesson take off.
Joel Shaul, LCSW
Click on it, copy to desk top, print. Or, copy to blank pages of a powerpoint if you want to show them that way.
Here are some other social skills lesson posts you might like:
*How words affect others, illustrated worksheets for kids with ASD: http://bit.ly/y4NiAW
*Mint New Thoughts emotional regulation activity for kids with ASD : http://bit.ly/xcjiWJ
*Nonverbal communication visual prompts, make and use (*good to use with Empathy role plays): http://bit.ly/zahHUq
*Nonverbal communication visual prompts for children on the autism spectrum, Part II: http://bit.ly/wmZbvo
*Game-like elements in autism social skills work: http://bit.ly/xHzxaM
