1. Gifted Autistic Children - Here Are
Practical Ways to Teach Social Skills to
Your Child With Aspergers
Written by: Autism Advisor
Gifted Autistic Children
In this article, I am going to introduce some strategies you can utilize to help your child with
Asperger's expand his/her social and emotional intelligence. These children are already gifted
with a lot of intelligence. You can frame these activities to them as a way of learning 'people
smarts' to balance out their 'book smarts.' This article will cover children from the ages of 6 to
13 years old. Prior to age 6, it is helpful to start pre-school children off with video clips of the
child's everyday social experiences. Film the child playing with his or her peers in the sandpit,
or involved in games of chasing, or hide and seek. You can then pause the video clip at
different times to discuss particular cues and responses.
Ages 6-9 years old:
At these ages, typical children start to recognize that they need a friend to play games with.
They become more aware of the thoughts and feelings of those other children, and how their
actions or comments can hurt or help their friends. Helping, a healthy give and take, is the
hallmark of this stage of development. Gifted Autistic Children
Social Stories
Carol Gray has developed this strategy to help children understand the cues and responses for
specific social situations. It's often difficult for the child with Aspergers to understand the
codes and rules of social conduct.
Gifted Autistic Children - Here Are Practical Ways to Teach Social Skills to Your Child
With Aspergers © 2010

2. Here are some steps to keep in mind when writing a social story for your child with
Aspergers:
1. Use positive language and a constructive approach.
2. Use suggestions of what to do rather than what not to do.
3. Use descriptive sentences that provide factual information or statements. However,
also use perspective sentences that help the child understand the characters' thoughts,
emotions, beliefs, opinions, motivation, and knowlege.
4. Use cooperative sentences to identify who can be of assistance.
5. Use directive sentences to suggest a response or choice of responses in a specific
situation.
6. Affirmative sentences explain a commonly shared value/opinion--reasons why
different norms of conduct have been established, and why there is the expectation of
conformity.
7. Control sentences are written by the child to identify personal strategies to help
him/her identify what to do.
Once the social story is written (give it a title that fits), the child will need opportunities to
rehears and practice new social understanding in real-life situations. It may be helpful to ask
an older, sensitive child to help your child practice these skills. This social buddy's modeling
skills will have a powerful and positive effect for your child. Gifted Autistic Children
Autism Advisor
“Gifted Autistic Children is a proven Autism Solution for your Child.
Try the program and change child's life forever!”
Gifted Autistic Children - Here Are Practical Ways to Teach Social Skills to Your Child
With Aspergers © 2010