Social.Skills.Autism

Social Skills with Students that have Autism

            For the past month I have been observing and participating in a social skills group with students that have autism.  The school social worker conducts the group with the entire class.  The teacher and the two teacher aids also assist the school social worker to run the group.  The purpose of this group is to help students with Autism build social skills.

A few weeks ago I participated in a social skills activity that appeared to engage the students.  The activity came from the electronic book Building Social Skills (2006) written by Danny Pettry.  What I liked about the activity is it helps people with Autism to make a connection between words that are related to social interaction.  Since students with autism struggle with understanding sensory information this activity helps them to understand the meaning of the words they hear from others.  What was also fascinating to observe was once the students understood what social skill the group leaders wanted them to demonstrate they could then complete the task. 

When referencing the National School Social Work Practice Model, this activity falls under the practice feature of implementing evidence based education, behavior and mental health services.  Though I have been in the group for only a few weeks, the school social worker has debriefed with me regarding student progress.  Specifically, when discussing outcomes, she identified two students that were non-verbal last year.  Both of these students can now respond to questions from teachers which is a measurable outcome.  Though those two student’s progress cannot be directly connected to the social skills group, as previously stated, the students could demonstrate the social skill the group leader was asking them to complete once they understood what task they were being asked to accomplish.          

References

Pettry, Danny. (2006). Building Social Skills through Activities. Retrieved from 

http://www.dannypettry.com/ebook_social_skills.pdf   

Renew.Item.of.Interest

            At Waukegan High School staff members have been attempting to implement evidence based interventions to address the needs of students that have emotional disorder disabilities.  Last year they implemented the Renew program.  According to (Malloy, Drake, Cloutier & Couture, 2011) the Renew program was designed to work with students with emotional disorders at the tertiary level when utilizing multi-systems of support.  Renew workers hold the belief that the most effective practice to help students with emotional disorders achieve success in the school setting is to help them identify their goals past high school, building off their strengths and assist them with identifying community supports that will help them to achieve their goals.  Waukegan High School also utilizes multi levels system of support and the Renew program is implemented with students at the school that are receiving tertiary level supports.   

            What I like about the Renew program is it works well with students that are visual learners.  Instead of having conversations with students we help them build maps.  These maps help them to not only identify their high school and post-secondary education goals, but also help them to recognize they can achieve those goals through utilizing their strengths and accessing community supports.  In addition, as a school social worker, we have a responsibility to provide evidence-based education, behavior and mental health services per practice feature one of the National School Social Work Practice Model.  The Renew program can be utilized to promote that practice feature.  What would be important is to operationalize what behavior we are looking to change with the student prior to implementing the intervention.  Then, you would want to have a tool that can measure how often that behavior occurs prior to implementing Renew as well as after the intervention has been implemented.  It would be important to get the teacher’s perspective, student, and student’s parent’s perspective of how often that behavior occurs before and after Renew is implemented.  For further information on the Renew program you can go to http://www.iod.unh.edu/Projects/renew/renew_main.aspx to learn more about the model.

Map 1: History and Story

A. The goal helps the student to identify the formative events that shaped their lives and are unique to their personal story.

Map 2: Who are you today

A.    The goal of the map is to clarify to the student what their life is like now and how they feel about it.

Map 3: Strengths and Accomplishments

A.    The goal of the map is to get students to think about their strengths that can be utilized in developing building blocks for future goals.

Map 4: People and Resources

A.    The goal of this map is for the student to identify people that are important to them, who can be relied upon, and who is not helpful.

Map 5: What Works and What doesn’t Work

A.    Identify situations that are detrimental for the student and to identify strategies where as workers we can help the student to become successful in those situations.

Map 6: Dreams

A.    To provide students the opportunity to be creative and to begin to set the direction for future planning.

Map 7: Fears, Concerns, and Barriers

A.    To help the student to identify the barriers that will inhibit them achieve their goals.  These barriers need to be identified so they can eventually be inhibited.

Map 8: Goals

A. The goal of this map is to help students begin to create concrete action step to achieve their goals.

Map 9: Next Steps

A.  To identify what next steps need to be taken for the student to be successful in achieving their goal and who they can utilize to achieve their goal.

Map 10: Essential Next Steps and Follow Up

A. To ensure any other barriers that were not already identified are targeted and eliminated. 

Reference

Malloy, J., Drake, J., Cloutier, H., & Couture, D. (2010, 2011).  RENEW Facilitator’s Training Manual. The Institute on Disability, University of New Hampshire: Durham.

School Mental Health Symposium

Save the Date:

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

8:30am-3:00pm

Oakton Community College, Des Plaines Campus

 

The number of students requiring intensive mental health resources is increasing in our school districts. Join fellow educational staff for an informative and interactive symposium to raise awareness, explore common challenges, and share resources to address our shared goals of supporting students with mental health needs across their school years. The symposium will include presentations from leading professionals in the field in the morning and in-depth discussions with colleagues in the afternoon to explore challenges and opportunities.

Join us in the conversation and call to action as we explore these topics and more:

•Recognizing emerging mental health issues

•Emerging brain-based research

•Considerations and implications for schools

•De-stigmatization as a barrier to treatment and support

•The current landscape in schools

•Empowering staff to individually and collectively transform their work to support a seamless transition from Kindergarten to young adulthood

Target Audience:  K-12 Student Service Personnel & Special Education Staff

Space is limited. Register today to reserve your spot and receive updates.

Lunch will be provided Courtesy of North Shore University Health Systems

With an increasing number of students in need of intensive mental health resources, I thought the Transition Action Network for Mental Health's willingness to provide an event available to us at no cost was a great opportunity.  This conference will allow social workers and educational staff to come together to discuss the challenges they are facing as well as share resources with one another.  There are two keynote speakers who will be presenting about research in the field to promote awareness and early identification of mental health risk factors and about building resilience across the lifespan.  It is relevant to school social workers as it will explore emerging mental health issues among the student populations we will be serving.  This item of interest meets the School Social Work model under the practice feature of “maximize access to school-based and community-based resources” as it will provide a forum for collaboration and professional consultation regarding mental health resources for students (sswaa.org).

Huffington Post: "What Do We Tell The Children?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/what-should-we-tell-the-children_us_5822aa90e4b0334571e0a30b#comments

I had something entirely different picked out for my item of interest; however, cannot get past the results of our presidential election and what it means for our country, our educational systems, and our children. Just last week, a student who I see often that has been getting into trouble for what I consider sexual harassment of several female peers explained to me that if Trump wins the election its “gonna get lit,” suggesting that this behavior will not only remain for him, but many more of his peers. He then recited verbatim what he had been hearing on YouTube advertisements about Donald Trump groping women. At the time, I has confident Trump would not be elected President of the United States. This is one small example of how this item of interest is connected to my placement. I also am aware that many of the students at my placement have parents and family members who are undocumented, and that they are petrified for what is to come with our new leader.

The election influences social work on several different levels, and I am struggling to even formulate my thoughts and feelings into words. This article helps me formulate my thoughts a little better, and provides me a tool to use when discussing the topic with students instead of responding out of anger. I feel that this article supports best practice because it is solution-focused and identifies shared values that most students and teachers can align with. This article helps remove emotionally charged responses to begging emotional questions. I would place this item with a solution-focused model.

Midwest School Assembly Reference 2016-2017

The School Assembly Reference guide is a great resource for school social workers in the Midwest region.  As prospective school social workers, this resource is a comprehensive guide to some of the best school assembly presenters.  Relevant topics to social work include anti-bullying, character building, healthy living, motivation and more.  The presenters are engaging and interactive with the students.  The students will have fun and learn at the same time.   Presenters are also able to adapt to different age groups.  The assemblies are coordinated with core curriculum and/or Positive Behavior Intervention Supports (PBIS) concepts.  These assemblies can bring the community together with the school, student and their family.  This item of interest meets the School Social Work model under the practice feature of “maximize access to school-based and community-based resources” (sswaa.org).  This School Assembly Reference guide will allow school social workers to assist in coordinating and partnering with resources in their community. Request your free copy at www.assemblyreference.com

Bully Free Classroom

This packet is extremely useful and helpful, it not only talks about what bullying is and eliminating myths, but it informs students, and teachers, and families on what to do about it.  The packet helps students who are getting bullied and it also helps students who ARE bullies. This is geared towards students who are K-8th grade.  This helps students with the problem solving process.The book helps students, teachers, and families to create specific strategies to help students who are bullied and those who are bullies.  The booklet gives examples, and worksheets for students to come up with their own solutions to provided situations.  This makes it so that the students learn how to apply problem solving methods to make their own solutions while being provided with some by the booklet.
Model: promote a school climate and culture conductive to student learning and teaching excellence. It facilitates engagement between student, family, school, and community. This tool is for everyone involved in the school system and it helps everyone differently but for the same goal: to be bully free.