Effective Social Interventions and Supports for Students with Asperger's Syndrome

Children and youth with AS often have difficulty understanding social situations that can cause stress and anxiety (Barnhill, 2001a; Church, Alisanki, & Amanullah, 2000; Myles, Barnhill, Hagiwara, Griswold, & Simpson, 2001; Wing, 1991).

Social situations that seem to be most problematic include:

1. Understanding facial expressions and gestures
2. Knowing how and when to use turn-taking skills, including focusing on the interests of others
3. Interpreting nonliteral language such as idioms and metaphors
4. Recognizing that others' intentions do not always match their verbalizations
5. Understanding the hidden curriculum--those complex social rules that often are not directly taught.

Even when a student with AS receives effective instruction in social skills, situations will arise that require interpretation. Unless interpreted, these situations become a source of stress and do not support future learning. With interpretation, however, perceptions of seemingly random actions can be altered into meaningful interactions for individuals with AS (Myles & Simpson, 2001; Myles & South-wick, 1999). Interpretive strategies include: (a) cartooning, (b) the Situation-Options-Consequences-Choices-Strategies-Simulation (SOCCSS) strategy, (c) social autopsies, (d) explaining the hidden curriculum, and (e) the Power Card.

Cartooning
The visual area seems to be a strength for individuals with AS (Dunn et al., in press; Rinner, 2000). Thus, visual systems may enhance the ability of children and youth with AS to understand their environment (Gray, 1995; Rogers & Myles, 2001). One type of visual support is cartooning. This technique used generically has been implemented by speech/language pathologists for many years to enhance their clients understanding. Cartoon figures play an integral role in a number of other intervention techniques, including pragmatics (Arwood, 1991), mind-reading (Howlin, Baron-Cohen, & Hadwin, 1999) and comic strip conversations (Gray, 1995). Each of these techniques promotes social understanding by using simple figures and other symbols, such as conversation and thought bubbles, in a comic strip-like format. This visual representation of a conversation helps individuals with AS analyze the social exchange (Myles & Simpson, 2001a).
Although cartooning has limited scientific verification, some evidence suggests that learners with AS may be good candidates for social learning based on using a comic format to dissect and interpret social situations and interactions (Attwood, 1998; Howlin et al., 1999; Rogers & Myles, 2001). Figure 1 provides a cartoon depicting a social interchange developed by Arwood and Brown (1999).
Situation-Options-Consequences-Choices-Strategies-Simulation

Another interpretive technique, the Situation, Options, Consequences, Choices, Strategies, Simulation (SOCCSS) strategy, was developed to help students with social interaction problems put interpersonal relationships into a sequential form (J. Roosa, personal communication, June 4, 1997). It helps students understand problem situations and lets them see that they have to make choices about a given situation, with each choice having a consequence. The steps of SOCCSS are:

1. Situation. When a social problem arises, the teacher helps the student to understand the situation by first identifying (a) who was involved, (b) what happened, (c) the date, day, and time of occurrence, and (d) reasons for the present situation.
2. Options. The student, with the assistance of the teacher, brainstorms several options for behavior. At this point, the teacher accepts all student responses and does not evaluate them. This step encourages the student to see more than one perspective and to realize that any one situation presents several behavioral options.
3. Consequences. Then the student and teacher work together to evaluate each of the options generated. The teacher is a facilitator, helping the student to develop consequences for each option rather than dictating them.
4. Choices. The student selects the option or options that will have the most desirable consequences for him or her.
5. Strategy. Next the student and teacher develop an action plan to implement the selected option.
6. Simulation. Finally the student is given an opportunity to role-play the selected alternative. Simulation may be in the form of (a) role play, (b) visualization, (c) writing a plan, or (d) talking with a peer.

This strategy offers many benefits to the child or youth with AS. It allows students to (a) understand that many options may be available in any given situation, (b) realize that each option has a naturally occurring consequence, and (c) develop a sense of empowerment by acting on the environment (i.e., individuals with AS realize that they have choices, and by selecting one they can directly determine the consequences of their actions).

Social Autopsies
Richard LaVoie (cited in Bieber, 1994) developed social autopsies to help students with severe learning and social problems develop an understanding of social mistakes. An autopsy, in the traditional sense, is the examination and inspection of a dead body to discover the cause of death, determine damage, and prevent reccurrence. In this connection, social autopsy is an examination and inspection of a social error to discover the cause of the error, determine the damage, and prevent it from happening again. When a social mistake occurs, the student meets with an educator or caregiver to discuss it. Together, in a nonpunitive fashion, they identify the mistake. Then they discuss who was harmed by the error. The final step of the autopsy is to develop a plan to ensure that the error does not occur again (Myles & Simpson, 2001b).

Explaining the Hidden Curriculum
The hidden curriculum refers to the set of routines, social rules, tasks, or actions that children, adolescents, and adults readily understand and use (Bieber, 1994). Often considered to be a matter of common sense, the hidden curriculum is almost never directly taught, yet it is a salient part of everyday life (Myles & Simpson, 2001b; Myles & Southwick, 1999). The hidden curriculum covers a multitude of areas.
Thus, it is impossible to generate a comprehensive list that applies to all students with AS in all situations. The following is a brief list of hidden curriculum examples:

• Do not ask to be invited to someone's party.
• Do not tell classmates about all of the "skeletons in your parents' closets."
• Speak to teachers in a pleasant tone of voice because they will respond to you in a more positive manner. They also like it if you smile every once in a while.
• Do not correct someone's grammar when he or she is angry.
• Never break laws--no matter what your reason.
• When your teacher gives you a warning about your behavior and you continue the behavior, realize that you probably are going to get in trouble. If you stop the behavior immediately after the first warning, you will probably not get in trouble.
• Do not touch someone's hair even if you think it is pretty.
• Do not ask friends to do things that will get them in trouble.
• Understand that different teachers may have different rules for their classes.
• Do not draw violent scenes.
• Do not sit in a chair that someone else is sitting in--even if it is "your" chair.
• Do not argue with a policeman--even if you are right.
• Do not tell someone that his or her house is much dirtier than it should be.
• Do not tell someone you want to get to know better that he or she has bad breath.
• Do not try to do what actors do on television or the movies. These shows are not the same as real life.
• Do not pick flowers from someone's garden without permission, even if they are beautiful and you want to give them to someone.

The Power Card
The Power Card is a visual aid that helps children and youth with AS make sense of social situations, routines, the meaning of language, and the hidden curriculum (Gagnon, 2001). The Power Card uses children's special interest to help them make sense of a specific situation and motivates them to engage in a targeted behavior.
In using this intervention, an educator or parent develops a brief script written at the student's level of comprehension, detailing a problem situation or a target behavior and its relationship to the child's special interest. Power Cards also provide a solution, relying on the child's special interest. This solution then is generalized back to the child. A card the size of a business card or trading card, containing a picture of the special interest and a summary of the solution, can be carried with the student to promote generalization. The Power Card can be carried in a pocket, purse, or wallet, or it can be Velcroed inside a book, notebook, or locker. It also may be placed on the corner of a child's desk (Gagnon, 2001).

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