Social and Interpersonal Skills Interventions for Children with
Autism
Marjorie H. Charlop-Christy, Ph.D.,
Claremont McKenna College
Deficets in social behavior are a core feature of children with
autism. Social skills have been defined as specific, identifiable
skills that form the basis of social competency, such as the
contextually appropriate application of motor, cognitive, and
affective behaviors. The literature is replete with various
applications of ABA oriented social skills programs. However, many
programs are limited to acquisition of isolated social behaviors,
or small changes in such, without pervasive generalization and
maintenance effects. This presentation will focus on those
interventions that have been empirically verified, and have shown
the most promise in terms of generalization and maintenance of
social behaviors for children with autism. These interventions
include Naturalistic Teaching Strategies, Incidental Teaching,
Video Modeling, and Photo Scheduling. These interventions are
perhaps the most successful because they focus on teaching children
with autism using motivational techniques, facilitators of
generalization, and visual strategies which often present material
in a "learner friendly" manner. New data will be presented
comparing some of these procedures to well-used but poorly
investigated "popular press" programs.
Dr. Marjorie H. Charlop-Christy is Professor of Psychology at
Claremont McKenna College and the Director of The Claremont Autism
Center, her renowned research and treatment center for children
with autism and their families. Through her research, teaching, and
writing, Dr. Charlop-Christy has made prolific contributions to the
field of autism. Dr. Charlop-Christy has hundreds of professional
conference presentations, workshops, and publications in the field
of autism. Her book, "How to Treat the Child with Autism", has been
translated into Spanish and Chinese. Her upcoming book, "How to do
Incidental Teaching with Autistic Spectrum Disorders" will soon be
released. Dr. Charlop-Christy has served as both Associate Editor,
Editorial Board member, and ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals
in the field of Autism/MR and applied behavioral analysis. She is
known for her informative yet lively presentation style.