Expert: James Michael Roan - 9/11/2007

Question
My 6 yr old son was diagnosed with asperger's 3 weeks ago. He is attending public school and is in kindergarten. We will be having an IEP meeting at school soon. I want to be prepared. I have been advised that the school can help with language therapy but may fall short when it comes to social skills training. I hope my son will improve his eye contact, ability to start conversation, listen to others, and have a "give & take" two way conservation. Can you suggest some "real life" strategies that I could suggest at the IEP meeting that the school could hopefully implement--and use at home as well.  

Your advice and help is greatly appreciated....THANK YOU!!

Answer
Hi Kathy;

I would meet ahead of time with the speech and language pathologist (SLP) to prioritize precursor social skills to develop first before tackling higher order social skills. Pick two social goals that are the most important. Don't try and teach too much too soon. The SLP will want to do some assessment to determine your son's level of social development and pragmatic (social) language skills.

Those goals should be followed through with at home. A good source for specific information is socialthinking.com. Michelle Garcia-Winner has really dominated this area for kids with AS. You will need a thorough social skill assessment before you can select specific social goals. You have very good ideas, but will need to know wher his skills end to determine what the next steps are.

Kind regards,
James