ASD-S3: Demonstrates the ability to consistently use various visual strategies including environmental structuring, schedules, visual cues and social stories to communicate social information and expectations that support the student's learning as directed by licensed staff.

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Strategies to Improve Social Understanding

This lesson will describe some successful strategies to help students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) improve social understanding. They provide concrete organizational structures that help students with ASD interpret social situations; share perspectives; learn new social concepts and behaviors; solve problems; make decisions; and improve understanding of emotions. These strategies utilize visual presentations that allow students adequate time to reflect on a problem-solving sequence and its solutions.

Situations-Options-Consequences-Choices-Strategies-Simulation (SOCCSS)

Situation-Options-Consequences-Choices-Strategies-Simulation (SOCCSS) is a strategy developed by Jan Roosa (Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004) to help students with social disabilities understand social situations and develop problem-solving skills. It is generally used directly after a social interaction to assist students in interpreting what happened. In addition, SOCCSS can also be used to proactively teach social skills by identifying problems students are likely to encounter and then addressing them with SOCCSS so students have an action plan before a situation occurs (Myles & Adreon, 2001; Myles and Southwick, 1999). SOCCSS uses the following six steps.

Situation: Help students identify who was involved, what happened, when it happened, where it happened, and why it happened. The student should be encouraged to answer these questions independently; however, it may be necessary to assist the student by prompting and identifying the answers.

Options: Help the student brainstorm options that could be chosen. Accept and record all student responses without evaluating them. The student may need help in imagining more than one thing he or she could have said or done differently.

Consequences: For each behavior identified under the options step, the student must identify a consequence. Ask the student: “What do you think would happen if (name the option)?” It is often difficult for students to identify consequences because of their difficulty determining cause-and-effect relationships. Thus, role-playing can serve as a prompt in this process.

Choices: Now the student must prioritize the options and consequences as those most appropriate or desirable by using a numerical sequence or a yes/no response. Prompt the student to select the option he thinks he will be able to do and will most likely get him what he wants or needs.

Strategies: Help student develop a plan to carry out the option she has chosen to use the next time the situation occurs. The plan may also include actions to fix or remedy the present situation. As much as possible, the student should generate the plan. This is important because the student must feel she has been the decision-maker and is responsible for the plan’s implementation.

Simulation: At this step, the student can practice his/her chosen option in a variety of ways: (a) visually imagining carrying out the strategy, perhaps drawing it or talking it out to oneself or writing the story of what would happen; (b) talking or imagining with another person about the steps of the plan; (c) writing down the plan; and (d) role-playing the skills by rehearsing the steps in various directed situations. Students should s tart with simple situations easy for learning.

The SOCCSS strategy helps students with social disabilities understand cause-and-effect; that choices exist for almost all social situations; and that they can impact and predict the outcome of many situations themselves. See the following example of a completed SOCCSS.

Comic Strip Conversations

Comic strip conversations are a kind of pictorial version of SOCCSS. In 1994, Carol Gray created [comic strip conversations] to help individuals with ASD use the graphics of stick figures, talking bubbles, and thinking bubbles to interpret social situations and interactions. This strategy has been so successful that is often used by professionals and paraprofessionals. Gray suggests a specific step-by-step approach to best develop a comic strip conversation (Gray, 2004).

Make small talk. Before discussing the problem at hand, engage the student in a light-hearted discussion that includes drawing. The purpose is to build confidence, likeability, and trust between the adult and the student.

Draw the situation, using leading questions. Encourage the student to use stick figures and communication bubbles to draw scenes and actions from the situation or problem. (If the child can’t draw, he or she can direct the drawing.) Use questions to gently lead the student into including important information and details into the comic strip. For example: Where are you? What happened? What did you or others say and think?

Share perspectives. While drawing, use this opportunity to listen to the student’s views and naturally share some personal insights about people and social situations. The objective is to “achieve a balance between gathering insights into the student’s perspective, while sharing accurate social information” (Gray, 1994).

Provide structure: Gray (2004) suggests drawing boxes around different scenes to help organize the sequence of events. If the situation happens to be reported or drawn out of order, review the situation with the student and number the boxes according to the accurate sequence in which the events occurred. If there is a discrepancy in view, talk it through until a consensus can be reached.

Summarize: Then go over the comic strip, highlighting the key points of the situation to ensure that the student and adult have the same understanding of the situation.

Identify a new solution: Along with the student, identify possible solutions to the problem and discuss the advantages or disadvantages of each. The resulting list of possible solutions is options for the student to use the next time the situation occurs..

Power Cards

Power cards (Gagnon, 2001) are a visual strategy for students with ASD that incorporates the attraction of an individual’s special hero or interest into teaching appropriate social interactions. These cards are also useful as an aid to promote generalization of a social skill toa variety of situations.

The first step in the power card strategy is to create a brief scenario about a problem situation that features the student’s special hero or interest. In the first paragraph, the hero successfully uses a strategy to solve the problem. The second paragraph breaks down the strategy into three to five steps and encourages the student to try it out.

Then fashion a power card the size of a business or trading card. It needs to contain a picture of the student’s hero or special interest and the three to five steps summarizing the problem-solving strategy. This can easily be done by drawing, cutting, or pasting, or using a computer. To make the card sturdy, it can be laminated. The student can carry the card with him as a reminder to use the strategy in a variety of settings. The power card can be attached to the student’s locker, in a notebook, on a backpack, or on a corner of the student’s desk (Gagnon, 2001).

Power Card: Example

The Incredible 5-Point Scale

The Incredible 5-Point Scale was developed by Buron and Curtis (2003) to help students with ASD visually understand the emotions of social situations and learn to control their emotional responses accordingly. Students are taught to rate the various stages of their behavior or feelings in a situation on a five-point scale (e.g., 1—being relaxed to 5—being out of control).

To clarify the ratings even further, the visual scale can include descriptions or pictures of how the behavior looks and feels at each stage as well as specific strategies for managing the behavior when needed. Sometimes a story is written to introduce the scale for a particular behavior. The story is intended to give the student clear, concrete information about the situation or behavior. The Incredible 5-Point Scale helps break down behaviors into clear, concrete parts. The scales are visual, and they reduce abstract ideas and feelings to simple numbers (Buron & Curtis, 2003).

Incredible 5–Point Scale: Example

Information in this lesson is used with permission from:

“SOCCSS” section includes material adapted and reprinted with permission from Myles, B., Trautman, M. L.,& Schelvan, R. L. (2004). The hidden curriculum: Practical solutions for understanding understated rules in social situations (pp. 20–23). Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company. http://www.asperger.net

“Comic Strip Conversations” section includes material adapted and reprinted with permission from Gray, C. (1994). Comic strip conversations (pp. 7–12). Arlington, TX: Future Education. http://www.thegraycenter.org

“Power Card” section includes material adapted and reprinted with permission from Gagnon, E. (2001). Power cards: Using special interests to motivate children and youth with Asperger Syndrome and autism (pp. 21, 44-45). Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company. http://www.asperger.net

“The Incredible 5-Point Scale” section includes material adapted and reprinted with permission from Buron, K., & Curtis, M. (2003). The Incredible 5-Point Scale: Assisting students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in understanding social interactions and controlling their emotional responses (pp. 1-3, 42-43). Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company. http://www.asperger.net

Myles, B., & Adreon, D. (2001). Asperger Syndrome and adolescence: Practical solutions for school success. Shawnee Mission, KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company.

Myles, B., & Southwick, J. (1999). Asperger Syndrome and difficult moments: Practical solutions for tantrums, rage, and meltdowns. Shawnee Mission KS: Autism Asperger Publishing Company.

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