Social Skills for Students with Autism. Working with Behavioral Disorders: CEC Mini-Library.

This booklet reviews the literature and suggests effective strategies for teaching social skills to children and youth with autism. The first chapter reviews the four common approaches for promoting social development. An individual chapter is then given to each of these: direct skill instruction; antecedent prompting procedures; peer-initiated strategies; and peer tutoring. The next section identifies 17 guidelines for instructional development for these students, including among others: match social interaction programs to students' needs and settings; establish reasonable social interaction expectations; program for interaction quality as well as quantity; be sensitive to local social interaction norms and conditions; recognize that not all regular class students will be appropriate for social interaction programs; reduce aberrant behaviors prior to initiating social interaction programs; consider the importance of setting and material variables; tailor reinforcement to meet individual needs; educate tutors and others about autism; generalize social skills; and maintain acquired social skills. Includes 57 references. (DB)