“What makes you trust another person?” Solomon asks. “Do you make friends easily? Do you pick friends who are similar to you?” she asks.
The answers spill out, sometimes freely, sometimes with more coaxing. “I trust other people when I know they can keep a secret,” one participant volunteers. “Someone who will help me out in a jam,” another says. “Someone who will stick by me over time,” offers another.
For these young people, the answers to such questions don’t come easily. They are diagnosed with high-functioning autism, Asperger syndrome and other neurodevelopmental conditions characterized by difficulties with verbal and non-verbal communication and forming social relationships. Solomon’s program is intended to help them bridge these gaps.
Her work grew from a seed planted while she was a postdoctoral student and M.I.N.D. Institute Scholar, between 2000 and 2003. In a paper published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders in 2004, Solomon and two coauthors reported that it’s possible to teach facial expression recognition and problem-solving skills to high-functioning children with autism in a group setting.
“It is very difficult to measure social skills improvement in a real-world way. It was gratifying that we documented small gains in face processing and problem solving, but we realized this didn’t capture all the positive results parents and group leaders were observing,” Solomon said in an interview recently. “Improved self-esteem, social self-confidence, and social motivation also seemed to result from the experience of being in a group, and we believe that this may have a longer term positive impact on social development than training discrete skills.”
In a subsequent study funded by the UC Davis Children’s Miracle Network, the research team also was able to preliminarily assess the contributions of a more structured parent training intervention known as Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). This study found that PCIT produced significant reductions in children’s problem behavior as reported by their parents, and significant improvements in the quality of the parent-child relationship.
The M.I.N.D. Institute social skills program now offers 30 weekly meetings that include groups for
teens and younger children. There is a 50-family waiting list. To date, more than 100 children and adolescents have “graduated” from the program, and services have also been provided for
approximately 40 of their siblings and 150 of their parents.
Ultimately, Solomon hopes to help these young people learn what comes naturally to most typically developing children – forming relationships with peers, thereby laying the critical groundwork for later success in higher education, employment and ultimately, life as independent adults.
“College is usually more predictable and structured than the workplace and emphasizes things that high-functioning people with autism spectrum disorders are good at, such as reading, memorization, persistence, and a knack for technical topics,” Solomon said. “Young people with autism spectrum disorders also come to college with lots of experience being students.”
“On the other hand, success in most jobs depends on the ability to participate in teams and to understand complex social interactions with co-workers,” Solomon noted. “Workers also are expected to learn things from experience on the job and then to generalize them to other similar situations. These things can be very difficult for individuals with autism spectrum disorders.”
But for now, what does learning the skills to be successful in adulthood look like? It looks like game-time with the social skills group – throwing a football around on the M.I.N.D. Institute’s
grounds, playing a game of Jenga, discussing what real friendship is like, or completing a homework assignment on walking in another person’s shoes.
It also looks like a parent group, where mothers and fathers sit around a large conference table, discussing what their children are learning, along with the topic of stress and anxiety, which
they have identified as a big problem for their children. And, down the hall, the siblings of the children with autism have their own group to hang out and bond with through a multitude of supervised activities.
“While most of my days now are spent engaged in neuroscience research, I greatly look forward to the time I spend in the social skills program where I have the chance to really get to know
children and families,” Solomon said. “I have been fortunate to watch many of our members grow up. The successes they have achieved are impressive. This inspires my research and reminds me each day of the importance of the clinical work we are doing.”
Reprinted with permission from UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute "M.I.N.D. Matters"
Wednesday: "The Physics of Parenting on the Autism Spectrum"
If you're interested in reading additional articles on autism, ScientificBlogging's Autism Awareness page provides a listing of all the articles on our site that touch on the subject.
Comments