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Field Experience (FE)_Elementary_Language_9 Strategies for Teaching Social Skills

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Field Experience (FE)_Elementary_Language_9 Strategies for Teaching Social Skills

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If you have an autistic child whose verbal, but needs help developing social skills and conversation skills, you've come to the right place. Let's get started with a definition:

Pragmatics: The use and interpretation of language in social situations.

Nearly all autistic individuals struggle to understand pragmatics. Even someone with an above average vocabulary can struggle significantly with social interactions and conversational skills.

These are skills that seem to come naturally to most people but they need to be directly and specifically taught to children with autism.

This post is part of a 7 part series on techniques for improving communication skills. Each part of the series contains this table of contents so you can easily navigate to the other parts of the series.

Table of Contents:

1. Learning to Listen & Oral Language Comprehension

2. Developing Oral Language Expression

3. Developing Social Language and Conversation Skills

4. Milestones of Play & Targeting Skills Through Play

5. Augmentative and Alternative Communication Tools

6. Childhood Development: Language and Communication Milestones

7. The Functions of Echolalia

Promoting Social Interaction and Skill Development

The development of social skills is an essential area of learning for kids with ASD. It should also be a crucial component of any intervention plan for changing problem behaviors.

Remember, this is because behaviors are usually communicative attempts used when kids lack the appropriate and adaptive skills to communicate in a better way.

So in order to help, you need to first assess their social competencies and get an idea of what they know, and what social skills need to be taught.

In order to develop these social skills, kids need the opportunity to practice by participating and interacting in a variety of natural environments where appropriate models, natural cues and stimuli, and functional reinforcers are available.

In other words, they need the chance to try out these skills in a variety of real-life situations.

Many people with ASD have difficulty understanding subtle social messages and have problems interpreting the non-verbal communication of others, such as facial expressions, gestures, or body position.

Usually, children with autism need to be explicitly taught these skills. This can be challenging, because although there are common "rules" to conversation - the other person's responses are still unpredictable.

List of Social Skills That Need to Be Taught

The aspects of social language and conversation need to broken down into smaller pieces and then each piece taught individually.

Children also need opportunities to practice these skills in various environments - such as at home with parents, at school with adults, at school with peers, at the playground with peers, etc.

Important Social Skills:

Starting a conversation

Staying on topic

Politely interrupting a conversation

Exiting a conversation

Taking turns at appropriate times during conversation

Using and interpreting body language

Matching your voice to the person or situation

Respecting personal space

Understanding and using figurative language. For example, idioms, hyperboles, metaphors, etc.

Expressing feelings

Asking and answering questions

Using appropriate greetings

More: Check out these 38 social-emotional skills for more ideas and tips for targeting specific skills.

How to Teach Social Skills

Despite the unpredictability that occurs during a conversation, it's still extremely beneficial to teach kids social language and conversational skills.

Parents and teachers can use various strategies to teach new social skills to children, such as:

Teach and practice social skills in one-on-one situations first, then in small groups, and once comfortable, in larger groups.

Modeling and imitation appropriate techniques

Prompting and creating environmental cues

Teaching with visual tools, such as social stories or comic strip conversations

Providing a list of concrete "social rules" to follow.
This can be hard because social situations are unpredictable but there are some things that can apply universally, such as using manners when making a request.

Providing feedback on performance (For example, "I noticed when that person said hello to you, you didn't say anything back. You should try saying "hello" when someone says it to you, and if you know their name you can say their name, too)

Using social-emotional learning programs (for example, Superflex or zones of regulation)

Roleplaying activities where you pretend to be someone and your child practices interacting appropriately.

Play-based activities using social interaction (for example, playing grocery store where you're the cashier and your child's a customer). This play can be mostly adult-led, depending on your child's play skills.

Strategies for Social-Emotional Skill Development

Social skills are an integrated aspect of all life skills - communication, self-help and advocacy, academic development, etc. that many strategies discussed in the behavior management series have aspects of social skills embedded into them and it's not possible to completely separate social skill development from other areas of development.

However, the following strategies help to explicitly teach social situations and encourage the development of various social skills.

Direct Instruction

Social skills are best learned in the context of natural routines, where opportunities are available to make choices, solve problems, and use functional communication and social skills.

However, natural activities of the day do not always provide opportunities to teach those lessons that most of us learn during childhood without instruction.

Direct instruction is a good way to help children develop social play, peer-group participation, social communication, school interactions, and self-management skills.
Direct skill instruction:

Identifies social skills that have to be developed

Determines the steps required to build those skills

Provides practice in a variety of settings

Social Thinking

Social thinking is critical in developing good social skills. It is defined as the social knowledge that we intuitively possess and that we continue to develop as we go through life.

In other words, it is what helps us consider other people's points of view and their social behavior. Social thinking is the base of all social skills development.

Michelle Garcia Winner has developed "the social thinking treatment approach" - The Superflex Program. Many special educators, guidance counselo rs and classroom teachers use this program. It can also be used at home by parents.

This is most beneficial for kids age 8 and up with high functioning autism. This approach delves deeper than teaching social response patterns (which is common in ABA therapy). It helps children actually develop a deeper understanding of social interactions.
The Superflex Program teaches kids:

Note: I am currently using the Superflex program at home with my own child.

We haven't been doing it long, but the games and books are super engaging. My son asks me to read and play with him. So far, we have noticed an improvement in his awareness of his own actions and others.

Direct Instruction Strategies for Various Conversation Skills:

Understanding and using non-verbal communication:

Gestures, facial expressions, body language, tone of voice, and other non-verbal communications of meaning and feeling can be taught using visuals, role-playing, picture rehearsal, and discussion.

Waiting

Visual cues such as objects, pictures, and written words can provide concrete information to make the concept of waiting less abstract and more specific to the situation. Visual timers are also a simple and effective way to help children understand the concept of waiting.

Taking turns:

Turn-taking can be taught through the use of social stories and by using a picture or pictograph to cue your child.

You may also need to teach turn taking when it comes to activities, not just speaking. You can practice this by playing games and activities that involve 2 or more players and require taking turns.

For example, the card game "Go Fish" requires you to take turns playing and speaking but it's also is predictable - You ask for a card, if the other player has the card, they'll give it to the other, if they don't they will say "Go Fish".

Making transitions:

Using social stories and providing change warnings with visual cues (Like symbols understood by your child, or a gesture), can help them transition from one activity to another.

Transitions can be particularly difficult if your child hasn't finished the activity; they may need to be prepared for the possibility of having to finish later.

Read 8 ways to make transitions easier for more tips with helping your child with various types of transitions.

Changing the topic in conversation

Some kids might stay on one topic and appear unable or unwilling to talk about anything else. Professionals often refer to this behavior as "preservation".

You can use strategies such as v isual cues, established time limits, and setting a time and place to engage in a favorite topic may help teach your child when they need to end or change the topic.

Completing tasks

Teach your child how to tell when a task is finished by using environmental cues, such as observing and following the behavior of other children in their class.

It may also help to use a timer, to teach methods for checking their own work, or to show a visual of what a task looks like when it's all done. For example, taking a photo of their bedroom when it's clean and using it as a visual when you ask your child to clean their room.

Initiating an interaction:

Social stories or cartooning are good ways to teach kids how to approach and initiate social interactions with another person.

Some common initiation for school-age kids include: asking for something, joining a game, saying hello, and politely leaving a situation

Being quiet

Most of us can tell from environmental cues alone, when it's appropriate to be loud, and when you must be quiet. For kids with ASD, those cues may be missed, or it can be extremely difficult for them to shift their mindset if going from a loud activity to a quiet one.

Use visual supports for being quiet and for teaching rules for specific situations.

Prompting

You can encourage social interactions by using prompting. This technique, which follows the most common ABA-based teaching, involves prompting your child to engage in a specific interaction (such as saying hello, please and thank you, saying goodbye, etc) and then when your child does, praising them and offering positive reinforcement.

If your child doesn't, then you can repeat the prompt.

I advise using this strategy sparingly because excessive use a prompts disrupts what should be a smooth interaction. It can also be stressful for the child to have repeated unpleasant demands placed on them.

Children can become dependent on prompts as well, so it's important to have a prompt fading strategy in place.

Structured Play

Structured integrated play groups can provide opportunities for younger kids with ASD to interact with their peers and is a natural environment for the incidental teaching of social skills.

Playgroups provide natural situations where children have the opportunity to practice using language to express wants, practice being near other children and imitate social interactions observed between their peers.

Playing has a significant role in childhood development across all domains. Most early learning is done through play-based activities.
It is through play that children learn to interact, relate to their peers, and establish their first friendships.

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9 Strategies For Teaching Social Skills To ASD Children * Raising An Extraordinary Person

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If you have an autistic child whose verbal, but needs help developing social skills and conversation skills, you've come to the right place. Let's get started with a definition: Pragmatics: The use and interpretation of language in social situations. Nearly all autistic individuals struggle to understand pragmatics.

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Social Thinking: A Fun Activity To Teach Add-A-Thought by Michelle Garcia Winner

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Field Experience (FE)_Elementary_Perspective Taking_Social Perspective Taking & The 5 Steps of Being with Others

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Field Experience (FE)_Elementary_Perspective Taking_Social Perspective Taking & The 5 Steps of Being with Others

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Updated: May, 2022
© 2022 Think Social Publishing, Inc.

Click here to download a free infographic on The 5 Steps of Being with Others and explore additional resources on perspective taking.

Part 1- Social Perspective Taking: Our Meaning Maker
What is social perspective taking and when do we use it?
Social perspective taking occurs any time you share space with others, even in the absence of active social interactions. We use social perspective taking before, during, and after a social encounter to help us figure out our social responses, based on our own and others' social goals in a situation. Now consider that most people think they only engage in social perspective taking during social interactions, such as when participating in a classroom, team sports, hanging out with friends, playing a game, or conversing face to face with another person. For example, if you notice shoppers move their shopping carts out of the way of fellow shoppers walking down the same aisle of a grocery store-that also requires using social perspective taking. If you see others waiting in line, you find your place at the end to wait your turn. Each of us, adapting our thoughts, movements, and what we say or do to consider others, requires the use of social perspective taking. In reality, social perspective taking is active any time anyone is thinking about others, even when these people are not physically present. For instance, we consider the actions, reactions, motives, and intentions of people in context within the novels and news stories we read and any time we watch people on our screens or listen to them on the radio or a podcast. Social perspective taking is expected to persist in the background of our thinking-if not the foreground-across the entire time we have others' minds in our minds.
Why is social perspective taking important?
Consider what it would be like if humans did not have the capacity for social perspective taking. We would regard other people in much the same way as we would an object, such as a box of Kleenex, without thoughts, feelings, possible actions, and reactions. We don't have to give much thought to walking by this box, since we don't expect it to interpret us or our actions. Now consider that without some level of social perspective taking we would be unable to work well in groups, drive in traffic, play together, make friends, or engage in teamwork. Each of these activities requires us to consider our own and others' perspectives as we share space, collaborate, or try to figure out others' intentions. Social perspective taking helps us make meaning of people as they interact or coexist together in specific contexts; it also helps us to navigate to regulate in the social world-a world that expects us to be consciously aware of each other.
How to foster the development of social perspective taking
If the goal is to help individuals build their own social competencies when compared to their own baseline abilities, simply teaching a social skill (behavior) is not enough. We need to illuminate the usefulness of social perspective taking in their day-to-day lives. Unfortunately, interventionists tend to think about teaching social perspective taking when the behavior of a student is perceived as "doing something wrong." Rather, we should teach them the power of their own social thoughts, feelings, and the expectations they have about others in their class, school, community, and at home. This provides them with the knowledge that they think and feel about what others are saying or doing (or not saying or doing); it's not just that others have thoughts and feelings about their actions. As they learn about their own perspective, they can also start to learn that others have a different perspective and how to navigate through this social information.

Social perspective taking involves metacognition (i.e., thinking about thinking) because all participants or observers of a social situation typically think about what people are thinking and feeling, including their motives and intentions. We then use this thinking to interpret the situation and problem solve how to socially respond, which we refer to as developing social cognitive self-regulation. This means we navigate through a social situation and regulate what we do and say based on our own goals, as well as the expectations of others. A goal in treatment is to break down this information to teach different aspects of it in more detail, gradually fostering development of one's social competencies.
Social perspective taking is developmental
Perspective taking is a developmental process, and concepts and skills related to social perspective taking become more complex with maturity. We all continue to learn about our own and others' increasingly sophisticated perspectives across our lives. How we expect 5-year-olds to perceive and relate to each other's perspectives is different from what we expect from 15-year-olds, which is different from what we expect of 25-year-olds, 45-year-olds, and 65-year-olds, etc.
Unpacking social perspective taking in five steps for social learners
The Social Thinking® Methodology includes a core treatment framework to teach about the perspective taking process. The 5 Steps of Being with Others is designed to be used by social learners-from ages 10 through adulthood-to help develop metacognitive awareness of the process through which we figure out how to respond socially, based on how we take perspective of each other's thoughts, feelings, and intentions in context.

Part 2 - Social Perspective Taking: The 5 Steps of Being with Others
A framework to unpack social perspective taking in five steps
Social perspective taking is a complicated process that requires us to explicitly teach something that, for the neurotypical social learner, develops intuitively over time. Our role as interventionists is to help social learners begin to develop metacognitive awareness of different aspects of the many moving parts of perspective taking. The following five-step treatment framework seeks to define elements of this abstract process in a concrete manner that can be further explored and discussed.
Defining the 5 Steps of Being with Others
Step 1: I notice the social situation and the people in it. I am also aware that you are doing the same thing.

Step 2: In each social situation, I am aware that I am thinking about you and that you may be thinking about me.

Step 3: I think about why you and others are here, what each of you are thinking or feeling, what you are doing, and/or why you may be doing it. I am trying to figure out your motive, intention, or plan.

Step 4: I also realize you may be thinking about (or just noticing) me (and others in the situation), why each of us is in the social situation, what we each may be thinking, feeling, or planning, based on what I or others say or do to try and figure out our motives, intentions, or plans.

Step 5: I monitor and possibly adjust what I do or say to try to keep you thinking and feeling about my actions in the way I want you to, based on my own social goals for the situation and the expectations you have for me in this context. In the same way, you are likely monitoring and possibly adjusting what you do or say to try and keep me and others thinking and feeling about you in the manner you want, based on your social goals and our social expectations for each of us in this situation.
Considerations when using this teaching framework
These five steps happen within milliseconds and at an intuitive level below our immediate consciousness for most of us. The first four steps involve active social thought and metacognition; only the last step involves our seeking to adapt our behavior based on our collective social perspective taking and related social goals for this situation.

The 5 Steps of Being with Others is for use with tweens, teens, and adult social learners, as well as helpful for interventionists, to begin exploring this synergistic concept. These steps help individuals recognize and consider the extent to which we think about others and adjust our behavior based on our own and shared social goals within a situation, even in the absence of intentional social interaction.
Social perspective taking in the classroom
The 5 Steps of Being with Others treatment framework is an essential part of learning, working, and relating in a classroom. Embedded within most classroom environments or any situation where there is more than one person (in person or online) is a set of unspoken or hidden expectations (e.g., social norms). One hidden expectation within a classroom is that all participants are aware of the thoughts, feelings, and needs of the people present in that context and that all participants are expected to adapt their behavior to not only help themselves meet their own goal in that social situation, but also help others meet the collective goal(s). For example, Stephan needs help with a math problem; his goal is to get help from his teacher. He could accomplish this most efficiently by calling out "I need help!", but that would disrupt the other students who are working on their math at this time. The collective goal of the class is to complete their individual math work assignments. Stephan recognizes yelling for the teacher would be "unexpected" for that particular situation (note: yelling can also be expected for another situation like playground play or in emergencies) and instead raises his hand as he looks toward the teacher.

As you review this example, consider that most parents and professionals assume that students automatically engage in this level of social cognitive self-regulation. Therefore, it's not usually taught, even within most social emotional learning curricula. However, when students don't know there are hidden expectations and then accidentally say or do something that is unexpected for that situation, they may be considered a "behavior problem." Components of the Social Thinking® Methodology guide social learners-through treatment frameworks, Social Thinking Vocabulary, and strategies-toward increased understanding about dynamic perspective taking and how to notice it in specific social landscapes within the social world.
Considering Others
Our social brain is active even when we are aren't hanging out or chatting with others. In fact, being around others requires our social system to ramp up to consider more than our own thoughts and feelings. As people share space together and/or interact, they do so with a basic assumption that we usually desire others around us to have reasonably "okay" or even "neutral" thoughts about what we say or do, even when our encounters are brief. Embedded in this assumption is the opposite: others want us to have "okay" or "neutral" thoughts and/or feelings about what they do or say. However, a challenge for those who struggle with some aspects of social learning is the process of perceiving and interpreting the thoughts and feelings of others as part of the social problem-solving process. It's not uncommon for our clients to state that they say or do what they want because it makes sense and keeps them comfortable. They do this often without realizing that it may leave others feeling confused. For example, Madison, who interrupts a classmate's explanation to make her own point in class, may feel her interruption makes sense because she has clarified the statement for the sake of accuracy. Yet, Madison may not understand that what she said left people confused or hurt.
Social evaluation, social judgment, and social memories: The social world has all three
Social judgment complicates the social world and it's something we ALL do. We can't help but make guesses and form social judgments about people's intentions and people doing the same to us. Those who adapt what they do and say as a way to keep others having "okay" or "neutral" thoughts are much more likely to be considered friendly than when someone does or says something that creates "confused" social memories. In teaching social perspective taking, we help social learners first realize they have their own social judgements and memories about how what other people said or did made them feel (positive and negative). We teach that we all adapt what we do and say not only for what's going in the present, but also based on how we hope people will remember our actions and reactions in the future. We routinely ask conference attendees why, when feeling frustrated in meetings or classrooms, they don't just yell at others. The response is the same over and over, regardless of race, gender, age, or culture. Most of us don't do or say whatever we feel in the moment because we know that others will have confused, or unpleasant social memories of the event and will likely recall that in future interactions.
Using a combination of social learning tools to teach more deeply
Social learners who struggle to understand the social world (some neurotypicals and Neurodivergents) work harder because they need to learn cognitively what many others know intuitively. On the other hand, some neurotypicals may not realize they instinctively and effortlessly engage in this level of metacognitive thinking. Helping neurotypicals understand how Neurodivergent see the social world can also help to establish empathy from both lenses. Appreciating these differences can help the interventionist slow down and take time to teach concepts more deeply to all types of learners.
Best practices: notice your own experience with the 5 Steps of Being with Others before teaching
Start by developing your own metacognitive awareness of the 5 Steps of Being with Others and spend part of the day paying attention to your own and others' perceived thoughts and feelings, intentions, or plans and how this social information influences your actions and reactions in the presence of others. Your own experience can then be a guide as you explore these concepts with the tweens, teens, or adults with whom you work. Once you begin teaching, make sure to get ongoing feedback from your clients or students as to whether these 5 steps are helping in meeting their self-determined social goals.
Fostering social motivation within students to engage in this type of social learning
Believe it or not, most social learners are interested in learning about the metacognitive process-especially when the focus is on their perspective and their thoughts and feelings about others' behaviors and intentions within a situation. Teaching through their perspective helps them realize they have a say in the social learning process which can help motivate them.

CAUTION: Never use the framework to point out an individual's behaviors that might be perceived as problematic in the eyes of others. It's not constructive, nor is it in keeping with our mission and intent. Instead, motivate social learners to think about social thinking concepts and learn how the social mind works. The Social Thinking Methodology focuses on breaking down complex social concepts to help build up individuals' social competencies, step by step.

Next, explore the sister concept, 4 Steps of Face-to-Face Communication. Learn more about this concept and many others in the books Thinking About YOU Thinking About ME, 2nd Edition, Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students, and Social Thinking Frameworks Collection.

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Social Perspective Taking & The 5 Steps of Being with Others

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Teach social perspective taking in 5 steps to grow social competencies

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Field Experience (FE)_Elementary_Products for Teaching Social Skills_Social Thinking Products

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Field Experience (FE)_Elementary_Products for Teaching Social Skills_Social Thinking Products

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We have lumped these two questions together because all of our products can be used by any interested adult caregiver, family member or by a range of professionals. This is a difficult question to answer all by itself in any simple way. Much of our treatment information relates to the developmental age and the "level of the social mind" of a child or student. Please see the next question to get you started thinking about our core information. You will find other questions that target working with students in specific age groups.
What materials help me better understand the Social Thinking Methodology and related treatment strategies?
You will want to start with our Core products. The information in these books spans all different age groups and provides core information for broad use.
I have a limited budget and want to learn about Social Thinking in general. What one book would you recommend?
It depends on the type of information you are seeking. Here are some suggestions:

Thinking About YOU Thinking About ME, 2nd edition (Winner, 2007) is terrific for a general introduction to Social Thinking. It explains how to get started with creating ideas for treatment planning and meaningful ways to assess a student's social competencies.

If you are attending an IEP meeting, advocating for more sophisticated social emotional learning treatment interventions, teaching a university course, are an administrator or just trying to understand how teaching Social Thinking is different from teaching basic social skills, the best book to read is Why Teach Social Thinking? Questioning Our Assumptions About What It Means to Learn Social Skills (Winner, 2013). You will find this book provides a wealth of information as well as demonstrates how Social Thinking's treatments are tied to the research.

If you are a mainstream teacher or program administrator devoted to better understanding the social learning challenges of our students throughout the school day, the best book to read is Inside Out: What Makes a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2000). This book outlines the ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking, describes the social-academic connection, and provides many strategies along with some worksheets that teach you how to break down social learning concepts.

I work with children of different ages who get frustrated easily and don't seem to be able to calm down quickly. What can you recommend to help them learn about emotion control?
The Zones of Regulation® (Kuypers, 2011) can be helpful for parents and professionals working and living with children across the ages. It helps children learn to recognize and organize their emotions by associating them with four different colored "zones." The curriculum also teaches sensory and social cognitive strategies to help students learn how to help themselves better regulate their emotions within one zone or another.
My students really enjoy learning through games. Has Social Thinking published a game?
Dominique Baudry is a special education teacher with a strong interest in helping students with social learning challenges learn more about the social world. She created the game Should I or Shouldn't I: What Would Others Think? to encourage Social Thinking and social problem solving. This is a perspective-taking card game, where students discuss and vote, on a scale from 1-5, the appropriateness of a specific behavior in a specific situation. The students who vote in agreement with each other win a point, helping to teach the idea that we all have a collective opinion about how we feel about what people do or say. The game was first designed for middle and high school students; it was so well received we released an elementary school edition.

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We have lumped these two questions together because all of our products can be used by any interested adult caregiver, family member or by a range of professionals. This is a difficult question to answer all by itself in any simple way.

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Conversation is an interactive communication between two or more people. Developing conversational skills is one of the first steps in socialization.

For many of us, conversational skills have developed effortlessly. Usually, we unconsciously use our body to convey messages and keeping eye contact while having a discussion is not an issue.

However, for many children with autism spectrum disorder, all these details in social interaction can be confusing and frustrating. Difficulties in initiating and maintaining conversations often prohibit children with autism from developing friendship and hinder their performance in school. From time to time, people consider children with autism reluctant to engage with others. But in reality, lack of socialization is often the outcome of their insufficient social and communicational skills, rather than lack of interest.

Even though the communicational ability doesn't develop naturally in children with ASD, but it is still possible to use various strategies to improve their conversational skills and confidence. In order to successfully engage in conversation with others, children with autism should learn various components of conversation, including:

Initiating a dialogue

Choosing a topic

Taking turns in a conversation

Being able to ask and reply to questions

Ceasing a conversation appropriately

In this blog post, we focus on useful methodologies that can be implemented in teaching children how to initiate a conversation.

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Conversational skills in children with autism, how to improve them?

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Conversation is an interactive communication between two or more people. Developing conversational skills is one of the first steps in socialization. For many of us, conversational skills have developed effortlessly. Usually, we unconsciously use our body to convey messages and keeping eye contact while having a discussion is not an issue.

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Elementary_Game Play_Incorporating Games into Social Skills Instruction

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Elementary_Game Play_Incorporating Games into Social Skills Instruction

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Incorporating Games into Social Skills Instruction - Autism Services Of Kansas

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Finding different ways for children with ASD to engage with their peers socially can be a challenge. Incorporating game play into the child’s social skills repertoire can be a great way to create new social opportunities for the child with his/her friends and family. Skills that can be targeted usin…

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Learn about the Zones of Regulation a powerful framework and curriculum to help students develop emotional self-regulation and control.

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Autism Coping Skills: Key to Reducing Overwhelm

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This article outlines multiple autism coping skills and how they are utilized in daily life.

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Elementary_Game Play_18 Games for Children with Autism

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Elementary_Game Play_18 Games for Children with Autism

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As a child psychiatrist, I often use games to work with the children with autism who I see regularly as my patients. All of these games can help with different aspects or challenges that some children with Autism Spectrum Disorder may have - they are also just fun.

Also, check out our other page with a list of toys for children with autism.

Best Games for Children with Autism

1. Feelings In a Flash These cards contain scenarios and reaction faces showing different emotions. These are commonly used in classrooms and therapists offices but is great for home too.

2. Lego. I had to include one more, because Lego is a great way for kids to move their focus to a tactile project. Also because there is no "right' or "wrong" way to build with Lego there is less chance of frustration as it's just a fun and creative way to distract from anxiety and spend some time building. Plus they have FREE SHIPPING every day on orders over $35!

**Note, if you purchase items from these links, we will get a small fee which we plan to put right back into creating more content and resources for you and your family.

Dr. Sean Paul, MD is a board certified child psychiatrist who specializes in autism and mental and behavioral issues in children with autism spectrum disorders.

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18 Games for Children with Autism that are the Best for Learning & Fun!

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As a child psychiatrist, I often use games to work with the children with autism who I see regularly as my patients. All of these games can help with different aspects or challenges that some children with Autism Spectrum Disorder may have - they are also just fun.