The Power of Social Scripts in Supporting Children with Autism
Facilitating peer engagement can feel like navigating a maze for children with autism. Conversational cues, body language, and social etiquette are often shrouded in confusion. Social scripts provide the guiding light for these children, laying out the blueprints for a variety of social settings and interactions. In this blog post, we explore the power of social scripts and how they are enhancing the social experiences of students on the autism spectrum.
What are Social Scripts?
In a nutshell, social scripts are scaffolded guides that present explicit examples of how to behave, respond, or engage in a social setting. These can range from simple salutations to more complex exchanges like soliciting assistance or joining a game. By rehearsing these scripts, students gain clarity about interactions and reduce anxiety and guesswork in the process.
Keys to Crafting Effective Social Scripts
One of the critical ingredients in producing meaningful results lies in the need to know the child well, and how their strengths and weaknesses intersect with the relentless variability of social interactions. As such, here are a few considerations in laying the foundation for the creation of these powerful tools:
Simplicity and clarity. The scripts should be straightforward and the language employed should be easily understood by the child. As such, idiomatic and metaphorical language should be avoided.
Relevance. It is important to ensure that the script captures scenarios that resonate with the child’s day-to-day living, such as playground interactions, familiar games, trips with family and school routines.
Flexibility. While the scripts provide straightforward examples of a particular interaction, students must also understand that their conversations may not follow the script to the letter, providing the opportunity for the student to bring his or her personality to the interaction.
Ways Social Scripts Help Children with Autism
Enhanced Social Understanding: Social scripts take the mystery out of the intricate rules of social engagement, helping children with autism understand what is expected of them in different environments and with different people.
Increased Confidence: When uncertainty is removed, children can enter a social setting with a greater deal of confidence, knowing they have a list of suitable responses for almost any situation.
Improved Social Interaction Skills: With ongoing practice, the use of social scripts can cause natural improvement in social interaction skills, as children get used to the give and take of conversation.
Reduced Anxiety: The result is a visible decrease in the anxiety and stress associated with social situations. The result: children with autism who can enjoy socializing as much as anyone else.
Incorporating Social Scripts into a Child’s Day
There are many ways to incorporate social scripts into a child's daily routine. Role playing is one strategy that can allow children to practice their scripts in a safe and supportive environment. Visual supports, such as comic strip conversations, can be useful to make the scripts more entertaining and easier to remember. Also, technology, like apps and video modeling, can outfit social scripts with interactive components, so children can rehearse them in new and engaging ways.
The Benefits of Using Social Scripts
Social scripts are not just words on a page. They are the key to understanding the huge, otherwise terrifying, block of social interaction for children with autism. They provide a step-by-step guide, to engaging with others, empowering children with autism to navigate the confusion and intricacies of socializing with confidence and with ease.
As we continue to develop, perfect, and add to these tools, the potential of children on the spectrum to become as successful in social settings as they are in any other endeavor should continue to grow. Embracing what social scripts can offer will mean a whole new world for these children – as they navigate the social maze with new confidence and joy.
