Green Zone Picture Card Social Skills Game – a free download
Children on the autism spectrum often struggle to discern the interests of other people and to take these interests into account in conversation. This social skills game employs a picture-based strategy works well in a variety of ages and reading levels. I would then encourage you to go on to fully explore this fun, visual method in my illustrated children’s book, The Green Zone Conversation Book, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
To download the activity, click on the red link below.
I wish you success in your social skills work with children on the autism spectrum.
Imagination, cooperation, and children with high functioning autism
Here is a fun, challenging activity to promote group cooperation skills. It is derived from an idea I found in a book years ago. I have provided you with print-outs to help structure the activity. This activity works well for many children ages 7 and up.
Many children have very rich lives of imagination. Children with ASD’s often have involved fantasy worlds – worlds they mainly keep to themselves. The Groupworld activity is designed to make imagination more interactive by having children work together to invent a world of their own together.
Here is some language you may consider using to introduce the activity:
“We are doing The Groupworld activity. You all have great imaginations, but you are used to using your imagination all by yourself. In the Groupworld activity, you will have to combine your ideas with the other people here to make a world that has not just your own ideas in it, but everybody else’s ideas as well.
This will be fun, but it will also be hard. People naturally like their own ideas. It takes effort, and practice, to mix your ideas with other people’s ideas and not get into arguments.”
This activity is derived from an idea I found in Relationship Development Intervention with Children, Adolescents and Adults, by Gutstein and Sheely.p
I hope you enjoy this social skills activity. To learn about more group activities to foster sharing, collaboration and creativity, click here.
In this post, I provide some ideas on how to put together a kit of emotion face visuals, combining inexpensive resources with home made and free downloads.
Children with Asperger’s and other autism spectrum disorders may experience a number of problems involving emotions. They may have difficulty recognizing and naming a nuanced range of emotions in themselves in themselves. They can find it hard to accurately identify emotions in other people. Kids on the autism spectrum may find it challenging to discern emotions in others through observation of facial expression and body posture. Young people on the spectrum can find it bewildering to sort out what causes various emotions and how unpleasant emotions can be relieved.
In this blog post, I present a kit of visual and game resources I have put together for my own use in social skills therapy and social skills groups. Some of this kit is available for free download elsewhere on my website (Emotion Question Cards). Another part of this kit is available for purchase online at a ridiculously low price (Emotion eyes and mouth visuals). The third part of the kit I put together using appealing emotion drawings found in a textbook on how to draw comics.
Although I designed this kit primarily to be used for kids with high functioning autism, the materials have many applications for children who don’t have autism.
Why to employ a game-like format when helping children on the autism spectrum with emotions
Many kids on the spectrum can spend years learning emotional regulation skills. It can be tough going for them. By the time you, as a teacher, SLP or mental health professional, are working with a child on these issues, the child may have already received a lot of teaching about emotions, much of it under very stressful circumstances. It seems reasonable, and strategic, to lighten it up sometimes in social skills teaching.
Face and mouth photo visuals
These are available for orientaltrading.com for $5.25 a set! I bought three sets for myself.
Here are some ways to use these. I am sure you will think up a lot more.
In the example above: First the child matches up the various eyes with the various mouths. Next, use my Emotion Question Cards (free download from another post: click HERE). This sets up a large variety of interesting and fun problem-solving game activities. Here is another example below.
Emotion Face Cards
I found a wonderful book that shows artists how to create comics. Here is the book:
I found pages full of very appealing drawings rendering a range of emotions in six categories. I extracted the images to create my own set of cards to use with my clients.
Here is a close-up of a few of the cards. I love the detail of the drawings.
Below is one example of how to use the Emotion Question Cards with the Emotion Face Cards. There are many possibilities.
I hope you find these ideas helpful. For more resources to help children with ASD to understand emotions and to cope with difficult emotions, follow this link HERE.
Here is a set of emotion cards that can be used in all kinds of ways in social skills teaching. There are two card decks which are used together: Emotion Word Cards and Question Cards.
Children with ASD and Emotional Awareness
Children on the autism spectrum may experience a range of challenges with respect to emotions. They may find it difficult to accurately recognize and name their own emotions. They may find it confusing to imagine the emotions of other people. They often find it difficult to understand how the words and actions of one person may affect the emotions of another person.
Elsewhere on this website, I have provided a number of free games and activities to help children with ASD to understand emotions and deal with upsetting feelings (follow link HERE to find these).
Download the Emotion Cards PDF by clicking on the red link below:
There are two decks of cards. The first deck, Emotion Word Cards, features 44 different words describing positive and negative emotions. The second deck, comprised of 48 Question Cards, has a wide variety of questions, tasks and role play assignments.
The most basic game to play with the cards is to place each deck face down, and direct the player to draw one card from each deck. The combination of cards drawn determines what task the player is directed to perform. For example, if the player draws the Emotion Card, “WORRIED,” and the Question Card, “Tell about a time you felt like this,” then the player must tell about a time he felt worried.
Here are a few variations on using the cards.
Several of the Question Cards direct the player to make their face look like the feeling on the Emotion Card they drew.
In the example right above, the player is directed to make up a story featuring three Emotion Cards he drew. There are other related Question Cards which direct the player to cooperate with other players in telling a sequential story involving a series of Emotion Cards (see example below).
Below are several more typical combinations of cards that can come up. Look them over and see whether these might be useful for your students or clients.
How to make the cards:
You will need to print them on card stock, or on paper which you will then laminate.
Joel Shaul, LCSW
Don’t miss these other free games, worksheets and activities to help children with autism learn about emotions and feelings.
Social skills games and learning activities for tattling and correcting
I created these materials ten years ago and just finished a re-design of the whole kit.
Young people on the autism spectrum can come across as rigid and bossy at times to their peers. Children with ASD can misinterpret complex social situations and express themselves too openly, without considering the broader social consequences.
Figuring out when to “tattle” or correct someone is very hard. I designed the 48 question cards to include a lot of challenging questions that don’t have clear-cut answers.
When you use the cards, feel free to go through the deck and select the ones that seem best for the young people you are helping, based on their age, level of comprehension and particular issues they are dealing with.
Children like to hold the cards and have an actual “deck” to play with, but this social skills activity also really works well in the screen display version (which is the version I most often use myself, for groups and teletherapy).
I hope these materials are useful for you in your work.
Free check-off worksheets for children with ASD’s to explore conversation topics with family members
Children with autism spectrum disorders often have difficulties having conversations with the people they live with. It really helps to use picture guides. Here is a set of easy-to-use worksheets for classroom, speech room and home.
How to use the worksheets:
1. Have the child put check marks next to the photos they think represent the person’s interests.
2. Go over the images one at a time with the child. Explain that the family member probably has many interests that are different from the child’s own interests.
3. The sheet “Questions, Comments, Compliments” can be used to set up role plays and actual conversation practice with family members.
4. Have family members fill them out for the child to use as a reference.
5. Project the sheets using a smart board or projector – this really helps for small group or classroom discussions about family members.
Children on the autism spectrum often do not make typical and expected statements in conversation to indicate interest. This happens for two reasons. First, they might not be at all interested in what the other person is saying. Second, they might be interested, but they are not aware of the importance of validating words and phrases in conversation and they are not well practiced in using them.
Validating words and phrases, such as “cool,” “you don’t say,” “really,” how about that” and others are very common in typical conversation. But many individuals with autism spectrum disorders use these words very seldom. Without the special lubrication of validating words and phrases, the conversation can fall flat.
My short Youtube video on how to use validating language prompts is available through this link: http://bit.ly/wiL3dW . If you watch it, a lot of this will probably become much more clear.
How make the written prompts:
Print out the PDF onto card stock or else paper that you laminate.
How to use the written prompts:
1. Hold up the prompts during times when validating language is called for.
2. Switch roles. You play the person who does not know how to use these words. Have the kids hold up the cards while you are talking to someone so you know what to say.
3. Learn and use these short, easy songs from the YouTube video (with younger kids). This helps them to learn and remember these important words.
Don’t miss these other free social skills printable, worksheets, games and resources to help kids on the autism spectrum with social communication, interaction and emotional regulation:
Many of my social skills resources for children with autism include large visuals that can be used either as accessories during teaching or as wall displays. Below you will find links to eleven of my blog posts which feature large, illustrated panels as part of the kit.
To go to the resource, click on the PICTURE.
Rigidity / Flexibility Panels
These are part of a social skills kit which includes lots of scenario and role play cards.
Dealing with Losing and Disappointment Panels
Tattling and Correcting Panels
These are a part of big free download kit which includes dozens of picture cards
Showing Concern Panels
Silly to Serious Kit
These are part of a big kit that includes dozens of situation and role play cards. Many teachers in autistic support classrooms have found the panels useful for behavioral classroom management. You can put an arrow on one of the four levels and say “We are at this level now.”
Teasing / Bullying Panels
This is part of a larger kit which includes a lot of situation and question cards to help children with autism to deal with the practical and emotional aspects of being teased and bullied.
Components of Listening Panels
There is also a simple worksheet using the same set of visuals.
Reciprocal Conversation Panels
This is part of a kit that includes a card game activity for conversation activities with children on the autism spectrum. It is derived from a concept of RDI.
Compliment Matching Panels
These panels, a sample from the People Points kit I sell, is to help children on the autism spectrum to practice the social skill of giving compliments.
Panels on Relating to Girls
These are part of a kit which includes role play and situation cards for teen boys on the autism spectrum who are learning social skills relating to female peers.
In another post, I have directions for making and using this fun variation, the Green Zone Mat.
