Before many of her interactions were very one-sided and she had pretty much no ability to answer the simplest question. I think it was a matter of her not understanding that was her chance to say the answer (the pattern of interchange between two people) at times rather than her not knowing the answer (which sometimes I know is the case too). It still is something she needs to work on but it's more that she has to learn to interact better with her peers.
So I'm reviewing some strategies that I found in this book.
* Group social therapy: This works really well. Unfortunately, my insurance (I don't know about others') won't pay for pure group social therapy. So we've found windows by doing group PT/ OT and sometimes I sneak in 2 of my girls getting speech at the same time. It helps to break down the rules of socializing that kids usually learn automatically. Anything abstract (like feelings, thoughts, friendships) should be introduced by visual cues and hands on stuff. For feelings products lessons I highly recommend this:
Source
and Dr Seuss' Many Colored Days.
Friends- I recommend "Since we're friends"
Be sure that any group therapy that the social skills are reinforced at home. I know that practice really helps my Bridgette.
I think the skills that Bridgette has the hardest time with is keeping eye contact and keeping an appropriate distance/ volume.
* Modeling. I know a lot of the social skills she's learned through watching my husband and I. And her sisters. We are generous with praise when she's getting it (even just a bit) because that's what she thrives on.
* Opportunities to play with friends. We make great use of time at the park or in the play room with our friends.
* Social skills games. Use a game board and use cards for questions/ cues you'd like kids to work on. All of my kids love this game. (Like we'll ask her about her favorite subjects; or her favorite shows; who do you know that _______; you are told not to do ____, what should you do?; or _____ needs help because they are sad, what can you do to help?; what should you do if someone teases you). The list of questions/ cues can go on and on.
* Make social stories (we do this a lot when we're going to have big changes and it helps a lot).
* Narrating life. It's fun to hear her say what she's doing and why.
* Learning coping strategies. For my Bridgette the best coping strategies are that she can do deep breathing (like yoga) or she can ask for pressure. We started with her just using her words to say how she feels and why. She's gotten really far with this.
* We're still trying to teach her how to deal with bullying. It hasn't been a big problem so far with her. I think it's because she's confident in herself and knows she's different and embraces it. She knows that she has a better long term memory than other kids. She knows that she just loves people no matter what, and she doesn't get her feelings hurt very easily.
These are just a few of the suggestions. I'm sure there's more out there, but that's what we've tried and what's worked.
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