Social Skills and Communication
Here are the relevant wiki pages to review, summarized below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_skills
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roleplay_simulation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verbal_behavior
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mand_(psychology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tact_(psychology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autoclitic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pivotal_response
SUMMARY
The first social skill we teach any student , if he does not already have it, is cooperation or compliance. In this we teach our students how school or therapy works, and that if they cooperate with requests made by the teacher or instructor, they will be praised and perhaps rewarded.
The most important skills to teach the persons with whom we work are social skills, in which the person has to request or communicate well to get what they want.
Most of these skills are not complicated to teach, but they do require some time, so it is best to practice them every day.
When we start to teach a system of communication, whether it is by speech, pecs, signs or tablets it is best to start by teaching the person to make requests mands for their favorite items.
Most people can use more than one mode of communication, so it is not a problem to try a person on several types before choosing the one that works well for that person.
Teaching social skills has been understood for many years. The most important part is to make sure the person practices the new positive behavior until they are perfect at it.
It is best to teach social skills when the person is cooperative and having a good day.
Describe to the person the skill you want to practice, and remind them why its important to know it.
Demonstrate how to do and say the skill, then take the role of the other person they will be doing the skill with in the natural environment.
Repeat the role play rehearsal several times, giving the person detailed corrective feedback until they are at 100% proficiency.
One powerful combination of social skills trainings is called pivotal response training PRT, which begins with assessing the motivators of people, as in cooperation training, and goes on to other critical social skills.
Here are links to videos regarding social skills and communication on youtube:
Social skills in Autism 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyxW0BiVuoI
Social Skills Autism II http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8OAun4JmLM
In the schools: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8DHwzj2sPs
Social Stories: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibVywzFgh2Q
Anger Management: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF8w0Nn58XQ
Multiple Trials in Rehearsal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9LA8S_Nkhk
Social Skills Task Analysis: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HWwlcDPyQc
Adaptive Devices, Tablets: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGU1ELjS7bQ
PRT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n9vlBtbji8
PRT Meets the Supernanny: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xsfzucXyhs
If you have questions or ideas for these pages, write me at gcbisset@gmail.com