Social Communication

Lisa Rowlett

The simplest of activities can be used to strengthen eye-contact and joint attention if a child finds it enjoyable and it can be repeated again and again by an adult. For example, I often use bubbles in therapy because most children love them so much. By bringing the child’s attention to the bubbles before blowing them, I draw her eyes to my face. I wait for the child to glance at me directly before blowing to encourage communicative eye-contact. If a child needs a more direct prompt, I can use a carrier phrase such as “ready, set,…or “one, two,… and wait for her to glance at me before I complete the phrase and the action. By sharing in the excitement of popping the bubbles or by pointing out the remaining bubbles to the child, I am encouraging joint attention as well as social engagement. These same steps can be used with other adult-activated toys such as wind-up toys or spinning tops.

Margaret Briggs

Because I specialize in school-age children, I tend to work on the verbal aspects of social communication. One area in particular I emphasize is perspective taking—taking into account how communication partners think and feel and what they already know. I use books with characters who experience different “problems.” Through a discussion of these characters—their motivations and actions—I can generate a conversation around common feelings and reactions. I use board games to teach negotiation skills, to practice taking turns, and to process feeling associated with winning and losing.

Sherri Elkaim

Some children have difficulty learning how to initiate or sustain joint attention so this is one of the first goals I work on. As early as 6 months, a baby who wants a favorite toy might look at his mother (with or without vocalizing), then shift his gaze to the toy, and then look back at his mother. His mother will follow his gaze and understand his intended message.

To work on joint attention, I like to play a touching game which then turns into a pointing game (to teach pointing as an important communicative gesture). Most children love the wooden animals hanging on the wall in our big play room. We will touch-touch-touch the polka-dots on the octopus or the eye of the turtle, and then slowly back away while their finger is still outstretched. The goal is to get the child to point as we approach the desired object and then to initiate pointing on his own.

Catherine Villagran

For several of my clients, I have to start my work at the very beginning. This means getting them to just notice me and alert (looking towards me, turning their body to me, stopping what they are doing) to my attempts at engaging them in interactions. Many children on the Autism Spectrum tend to navigate their surroundings by focusing on specific objects or parts of their environment (lights, wheels, colors, a wall mirror). This leaves little energy to focus on another person. By getting them to alert to my actions, sounds, words, or play, I am helping them take in and make sense of more of their environment and look at the big picture of their surroundings. Obviously, I choose highly motivating behaviors that I know will get their attention (like bubbles or flying toys). By starting with simply alerting to me, I can then work to shape that into interactions within a structured context (a specific song that leads them to a favorite activity), in which they can begin to socially engage with me (and of course their parents). I set up basic play routines immediately and shape those into longer, more complex play behaviors.

Rebekah Taylor

Turn-taking is one of the building blocks to establishing successful social communication. It often begins on a physical level, such as rolling a ball back and forth. For some children, taking turns does not come easily. It takes practice. Since many children are content to play by themselves, I like to use what we call “playful obstruction” as a way of joining in. For instance, we have a car ramp; a toy car starts at the top and rolls down a series of ramps to end at the bottom. It would be easy for a child to play with this toy independently, but I want to play too! So, as the car begins to roll down, I playfully move my hand toward the bottom ramp and say with a teasing voice, “I’m gonna get the car…” And it becomes a game to see who will get it next. First, it’s their turn, then I get the car, then oops! they get the car. We’re taking turns. From this point, I begin to make it more apparent that we’re taking turns. I’ll say, “it’s your turn” or “now it’s my turn.” I wait for them to finish their turn and they wait for me to finish mine. Gradually, we progress from physically taking turns to verbally taking turns in conversation. Who knew toy cars could be so important?

Marlo Albritton

When I am targeting social emotional connections, I start at the very core, which to me is having fun! When a child is having fun, she is more likely to be motivated to sustain engagement and social interaction with a communicative partner. Tapping into the interests of the child creates an opportunity for me to join the child at whatever level or activity is motivating and pleasurable for her. From this origination point, I look for opportunities to heighten my affect and create an emotional connection. Thus we can begin to expand the child’s focus from the object to sharing an experience of pleasure with another person. On any given day, you may find me joining a child who is engaged in non-purposeful play and coaxing her gently toward interaction. For example, when a child is randomly tossing blocks, I will guide her hand to place a block on my head and then reward her with a silly sneeze. It doesn’t take long before we are laughing together as the block falls off my head.