One of the big issues my Bug struggles with is social skills. He’s one of those kids that learn best by doing. Sometimes though that puts him or those around him in an akward position, especially if it involves a social situation. Right now, we are working on helping him to understand when his thoughts should be verbalized and when they shouldn’t.  He’s just used to verbalizing everything and I do mean everything.

Take for example our discussions on smoking and how bad it is for your health. So of course, as soon as he sees someone smoking or smoking around him he feels compelled to tell me quite loudly, “Mom, that man is smoking. He’s not supposed to be smoking. Smoking is bad for you.” And well, yes he’s right. Can’t argue that. It’s what we have taught him. But getting him to understand that he doesn’t need to yell that out is the social skill we need to work on.

We have a couple of options here to help him understand.

1) Teach in the moment - The way my child’s brain works, teaching him right there in the moment work best. Information drops from his brain almost instantly if it doesn’t find it important enough to retain and file for another time. So if I don’t take action and try to use that moment as a learning experience, chances are it will be forgotten within a few minutes. And sure enough the next time he sees someone smoking the same situation will repeat itself. If I take the time right then every time, then hopefully it will begin to retain.

2) Use Social Stories – Social stories are used by parents of children with autism both verbal and non-verbal. They are used a lot in school and in therapy sessions to help a child get a visual and a “put yourself in the situation” view of things. It can be very effective. And that leads me to my 3rd option.

3) Technology and Apps – Social skills apps for special needs kids are all over the place and choosing the right ones for your children can take a lot of searching and time but trust me, it is time well spent.  A couple of quick tips to help you determine if the app is right for your child:

• First, make sure you know what you want to use the app for and how you will use it to meet your child’s specific needs.
• Read the reviews. Did others like it and find it useful?
• Look at the screen shots. This will give you a better idea of whether or not the app is age/level appropriate for your child.
• Look for demos either on the developers page or on YouTube. If not, google the app and see if you can locate one online elsewhere.
• Try a “lite” version first if one is available.

Just an extra little tip I learned the hard way, make sure you don’t need to buy any in-app extras to make the app work the way you need for it to be effective.

© 2013, Nanette Gomez. All rights reserved.