Generally speaking, social skills are any competences that facilitate interaction and communication. In a way, it is a type of survival skills as it can be found in every aspect in our lives and is important to our functioning. Limited social interest, weaker eye contact, insufficient play skills are some of the common social obstacles found in young children with ASD. But as our children get older, their problems might have evolved to lower rate of friendship, poorer understanding of loneliness, difficulties in team work, weaker in controlling emotions and predicting consequences, bullying, more prone to collusion, or even higher rate of depression and suicidal thoughts.
A bigger challenge is now faced by not only the students, but also their parents, teachers, and paraprofessionals, as they are in a more difficult situation to provide meaningful support to those students.
Increased social complexity and demand
One of the factors that complicates the situation is increased social complexity and demand. As we get older, our social world becomes more complex and refined. The required social skills in mainstream primary and secondary schools are way more and sophisticated compared to those in kindergartens. It is not uncommon to find high-functioning children with ASD, who managed to go through kindergarten without much support, find their social world too overwhelming once they begin primary and secondary schools.
Higher academic demand
Whether it is local or international school, academic demand only gets higher and higher as the students become older. To make things worse, many children who are on the spectrum often have different kinds of learning issues, for instance inattention and low learning motivation. Moreover, the majority of primary and secondary schools are full-day in Hong Kong. That means students are spending a large portion of their waking hours in school and time after school is limited and precious. In order for students with ASD to stay in the current educational placement, not surprisingly, they often spend most of their time in academic and sparing time to address social needs become a luxury.
No ‘standard social curriculum’
If social skills training is available for students with ASD, designing and teaching social curriculum for older children are not an easy job. Although there are many books and online resources related to social skills training, there is no ‘standard social curriculum’. Which means parents, educators, and paraprofessionals are required to skim through a large amount of information and be extremely creative in developing social curriculum in order to design individualized and functional social curriculum for our students. Even if ‘standard social curriculum’ exists, due to its ‘standard’ nature, it probably is inadequate to address the social needs of each individual.Of course including social skills training in early intervention for children with ASD is highly important. But being aware of potential social challenges in primary and secondary school settings and providing support to older students who are on the spectrum are critical as well. Using a functional approach to analyze functions of behaviors, and designing and teaching prerequisite and replacement skills accordingly allow us to address the social needs of our children more effectively and efficiently.
Information provided by Autism Partnership
Autism Partnership (AP) is one of the most established Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) service providers for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in the world. Formed in 1994 in the United States, AP is run by professional clinicians and specializes in providing one-on-one therapy, group interventions and overseas consultation for children with ASD and their families.
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[:zh] 社交是自閉症的核心缺陷。許多譜系障礙人士在日常生活中面對著各式各樣的挑戰。儘管家長和老師們對自閉症幼兒所面對的社交障礙的關注越來越高，也有較多的資源來紓緩他們的社交需求，可是許多年齡較大的譜系障礙孩童在社交上依然有障礙，而且他們所面對的挑戰難度亦相對較高。社交技巧泛指任何能促進人與人之間互動和溝通的能力。某程度來說，它也是一種生存技巧，因為不單在不同層面的生活也涉及到社交技巧，而且它也會直接影響我們能否在社會上正常運作。社交興趣薄弱、缺乏眼神接觸以及遊戲技巧貧乏是一些自閉症幼兒常見的社交問題。隨著孩子逐漸長大，社交問題有可能逐漸演變為缺乏朋友和友誼、對孤獨的理解不足、難以跟別人合作、不擅於控制情緒及預測後果、被欺凌、易於被哄騙，甚至比一般人容易患有抑鬱症和有自殺傾向。
不僅孩子們需要面對更大的挑戰，家長、老師及相關的專業團隊在提供支援給予學生時也需要處理更嚴峻和複雜的問題。
日益增加的社交複雜性及需求
與日俱增的社交需求和複雜的社交技巧是使當前的問題更加嚴重和難處理的原因之一。隨著年齡的增長，我們的社交世界變得更加複雜和精細。學生在主流中小學校需要掌握的社交技巧遠比幼稚園時期多和複雜。雖然有部分高功能的自閉症學生能夠在沒有很多支援下完成幼稚園，可是他們的社交缺損在上小學和中學時便陸續浮現。
更高的學業要求
無論是本地還是國際學校，隨著孩子的年紀越來越大，學校對學生的學業要求也越來越高。更糟糕的是，許多譜系障礙兒童也有其他的學習問題，例如專注力不足和學習動力低。此外，香港的大部分中小學都是全日制的。這意味著學生大部分的時間都是在學校裡渡過，課餘的時間不只有限而且珍貴。為了讓自閉症孩子繼續在現在的學校就讀，他們投放大量的時間在學業上也是意料中事，也就是說解決社交問題亦變成了一種奢侈了。
沒有「標準」的社交課程
就算自閉症學生有時間和機會進行社交技巧訓練，為年紀較大的孩子制訂和教授社交課程也並非易事。儘管坊間有許多關於社交技巧訓練的書籍和網絡資源，可是「標準」的社交課程 並不存在。這意味著家長、老師和相關的專業團隊需要瀏覽大量的資料，在制定課程時發揮極大的創意才能夠為學生量身定制實用的社交課程。即使我們找到「標準」的社交課程，由於課程太 「標準」，它並不能有效地解決每一個學生的社交需要。當然，將社交技巧訓練納入早期干預對自閉症孩子來說是十分重要。但是，理解譜系障礙學生在中小學可能遇到的社交問題和為他們提供支援亦十分關鍵。採用「功能分析」來剖析行為的功能，並用分析的結果來制定並教授相應的先決及替代技巧能讓我們更有效地和有迅速地解決孩子的社交需要。
資訊由Autism Partnership提供
Autism Partnership （AP）於1994年在美國成立，是全球最具規模為自閉症患者提供『應用行為分析』(ABA) 治療的專業機構。AP是由多位專業臨床心理學家、應用行為分析治療顧問及治療師管理，為患有自閉症譜系障礙（ASD）的兒童及其家庭提供一對一治療、行為干預小組訓練及海外諮詢服務。
請分享，讓更多人了解自閉症及學習更多應用行為分析（ ABA）的治療技巧。
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