• Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Tiktok
  • Youtube
  • 44225 W. Twelve Mile Road, Suite C106, Novi, Michigan 48377
  • (248)277-3005
  • Consultation
44225 W. Twelve Mile Road, Suite C106, Novi, Michigan 48377
8175 Movie Dr, Brighton, Michigan 48116
  • About
    • Meet the Team
      • Leadership Team
      • Mental Health Team
    • Gallery
      • Novi
      • Brighton
    • Contact Us
  • Services
    • Applied Behavior Analysis
    • Speech and Language Pathology
    • Counseling Services
    • Art Therapy
    • Occupational Therapy
    • The Blossom Program
    • Group Programs 2023
  • Careers
  • Students
    • ABA Student Opportunities
    • Speech Student Opportunities
  • Study Tools
    • Try Our RBT Mock Exam
    • RBT Mock Exam Answer Key
    • ABA Resources
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • CONSULTATION
  • Search
  • Menu Menu
  • Consultation
  • About
    • Meet the Team
      • Leadership Team
      • Mental Health Team
    • Gallery
      • Novi
      • Brighton
    • Contact Us
  • Services
    • Applied Behavior Analysis
    • Speech and Language Pathology
    • Occupational Therapy
    • Counseling Services
    • Art Therapy
    • The Blossom Program
    • Group Programs 2023
  • Careers
    • Behavior Technicians Needed
  • Students
    • ABA Student Opportunities
    • Speech Student Opportunities
  • Free RBT Mock Exam
    • Try Our RBT Mock Exam
    • RBT Mock Exam Answer Key
    • Cooper Quiz Chapter 1
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • 248-277-3005

April 25, 2023

9 Important Social Skills for Autistic Kids to Focus On

Categories: Health Care, Parenting

Kids practice social skills

Helping autistic kids learn social skills is one of the most important parts of the work we do at Blossom Children’s Center.

Autistic kids often have difficulty with social interaction, communication, and understanding social cues, which can make it challenging for them to engage with others and form connections. By teaching social skills, we can help them to improve their communication, build confidence, and develop a sense of belonging.

Teaching social skills to autistic children is important to us because it helps them to develop the skills they need to interact successfully with others and navigate social situations. Social skills are essential for building relationships, making friends, and functioning in society.

What are Social Skills?

Social skills are the abilities and behaviors that we use to interact with others in social situations. They include the ability to communicate effectively, show empathy, understand social cues, and maintain positive relationships with others. The American Psychological Association says that social skills are:

“A set of learned abilities that enable an individual to interact competently and appropriately in a given social context. The most commonly identified social skills in Western cultures include assertiveness, coping, communication and friendship-making skills, interpersonal problem-solving, and the ability to regulate one’s cognitions, feelings, and behavior.”

Because these skills are often elusive, understanding how to encourage and address social skills for autistic kids is a vital component in helping them to be empowered on their journey to leading a fulfilled life.

9 Important Social Skills for Autistic Kids to Focus On

A child practices social skills

When we plan social skills activities for autistic children, we are particularly interested in those that target specific skills that will help in that journey. It’s good to keep in mind that some children with autism will have an easier time with some of these skills, and others will be stronger with other skills. Autism is unique to all autistic kids.

Here are some of the skills that you can focus on when thinking about social skills activities for autistic kids:

Eye contact

Teach kids with autism how to maintain eye contact while speaking with others. As we’ve explained in our blog, “This strategy helps your child learn to scan faces more effectively for emotional cues.”

Active listening

Active listening involves fully concentrating on and engaging with what someone else is saying. For autistic children, it can be particularly challenging to develop active listening skills due to difficulties with social communication and sensory processing. Work with autistic kids on how to listen actively and attentively to others.

Social cues

Practice identifying social cues such as body language and facial expressions. We recommend that you “Draw your child’s attention to others in the room. Doing so is a powerful ABA therapy technique that encourages your child to absorb the emotional and behavioral responses others exhibit.”

Turn-taking

Autism Parenting Magazine says, “Some children with autism often display issues understanding the concept of sharing toys with others, along with preferring to play by themselves.”

Help them understand the importance of taking turns in conversations and activities. If you try, you can find lots of opportunities to practice this skill in real life, from casual chats to board games.

Personal space

Studies show that some autistic kids struggle to understand personal space, standing too close to others, or walking in between others who are talking. Teach them about personal space and boundaries.

Empathy

Empathy is a complex discussion in the autism community. For a long time, the idea that kids with autism couldn’t feel empathy was fairly widespread.

But as Psychology Today puts it, “That’s simply false. They do have empathy.” They go on to explain that those on the autism spectrum “score the same or even have more emotional distress at the distress of others than neurotypical people.”

Even so, all children, including autistic kids, benefit from understanding empathy and how it works. Help them develop empathy and understand the feelings of others.

Conflict resolution

For autistic children, who may struggle with social communication and interaction, conflict resolution can be particularly challenging.

Learning to resolve conflicts effectively can provide significant benefits for autistic children. It can help them to better understand social situations, improve their communication skills, and enhance their ability to form meaningful relationships with others. Additionally, conflict resolution can help autistic children to develop problem-solving skills and increase their self-esteem.

Understanding Emotions

Emotions can be tricky to understand and identify, and when left unexamined can sometimes be overwhelming.

We recommend helping autistic children learn about emotions by “labeling their emotions in natural contexts. For example, if you’re reading a book with your child, point out emotions, and discuss the characters’ emotions. Talk about their facial expressions, the situations that led to a particular emotional reaction, and how other characters respond. Work on mimicking the emotions of the characters and discuss how the story makes you feel.”

Asking for help

It can be difficult to ask for help, and sometimes even to identify when help is needed. Part of developing social skills for autistic kids is understanding how useful a helper can be. Reinforce the benefits of asking for help when they need it.

Speaking of asking for help, Sometimes helping autistic kids learn social skills takes a professional team trained in Applied Behavioral Analysis and other techniques.

Learn more about our Applied Behavior Analysis Therapy Services

0 Comments/by Lena
0 replies

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!
Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share by Mail

Connect With Us

Book a consultation now or call us at (248) 277-3005 or email info@blossomchildrenscenter.com.

Follow us on Facebook
Follow us on Instagram

Categories

  • Eat Well
  • Health Care
  • Metro Detroit
  • Parenting
  • Research
  • Resources
  • Speech
  • Uncategorized

Latest Blog Posts

  • A child plays with sensory toys
    6 Best Sensory Toys for Autistic ChildrenMay 3, 2023 - 7:55 am
  • Children playing
    7 Incredible Benefits of Autism for Autistic ChildrenApril 25, 2023 - 12:20 pm
  • Kids practice social skills
    9 Important Social Skills for Autistic Kids to Focus OnApril 25, 2023 - 12:16 pm
  • A child doing crafts
    15 Cool Crafts for Autistic KidsApril 5, 2023 - 9:33 am
  • A child wears a bracelet that says I Have Autism
    Why We Use Identity-First LanguageApril 5, 2023 - 9:22 am
  • Call Us: 248-277-3005
  • Novi, MI 44225 W. Twelve Mile Road,
    Suite C106, Novi, Michigan 48377
  • Brighton, MI 8175 Movie Dr, Brighton, Michigan 48116
  • Email Us
  • Fax Novi 248-277-3050
  • Fax Brighton: 810-206-1561
  • Email Us

Let's Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • TikTok
  • YouTube
  • About
  • Careers
  • Student Opportunities
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Contact
  • Locations
  • Privacy Policy
© 2023 Blossom Children's Center.
15 Cool Crafts for Autistic KidsA child doing craftsChildren playing7 Incredible Benefits of Autism for Autistic Children
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

ACCEPTMORE INFO

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Privacy Policy

You can read about our cookies and privacy settings in detail on our Privacy Policy Page.

Privacy Policy
Accept settingsHide notification only