Social Skill Autospy In-Depth

          I recently made a post in which I briefly reviewed Richard Lavoie's book "It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend: Helping the Child with Learning Disabilities Find Social Success." For this post, I want to focus specifically on discussing one strategy he mentioned that "has been effective in the social competence of thousands of children" (Lavoie, 2005, p. xlvii).

          In order for children, whether they are special needs or not, to enjoy social success, it is vital that they master four basic skills (Lavoie, 2005, p. xxxii).

• The ability to join a group
• The ability to establish and maintain friendships
• The ability to resolve conflicts
• The ability to "tune in" to others social skills

If a child fails to master any or all of these skills, they are at risk for social rejection and will not be able to positively interact with others. As most caregivers of special needs children know and have experienced, it is especially hard for these children to read and react with appropriate social skills. For instance, many times special needs children often fail to recognize the reason behind someone may be upset with them. Let's say, that your child has a learning disability, which "influence the way [your child] perceives, interprets, process, and explains his world" (Lavoie, 2005, p. xxxvii). Ok...One day after school you pick him up and he instantly begins telling you about how his friends had been rude to him and kicked them out of their conversation. You ask your child to explain what had happened and he basically tells you that he had interrupted an intimate conversation two other peers were having and both had become frustrated and asked him to leave. The inability of your child to recognize cues, such as when it is appropriate and when it is not appropriate to break up an intimate conversation, results in social errors that can leave your child feeling isolated and rejected from the rest of the group. However, a key element in the way that children with a learning disability think, is that many of them fail to recognize that they have done anything wrong or made any type of social error. No matter how long you try to explain to them what they could have done instead, all they know is that had gotten in trouble. They missed the learned experience that was so critical at that point in time. This brings me to Lavoie's strategy for helping children learn to be socially competent.

          Making situations into a teaching experience is critical for any young child. However, it is highly important to remember this idea when working with a special needs child. Since most disabilities last a lifetime, "social difficulties are a direct, not indirect, consequence of the learning problem" (Lavoie, 2005, xxxviii). With this in mind, your goal, should be to make as many situations and experiences into something that you can teach your child. A social skill, you can hopefully help them master.

          Social Skill Autopsy is a technique that aims to help teach children "the right answer" for correcting any social error. This strategy has three basic assumptions:

1. Most social skills errors are unintentional.
2. If you accept the premise that the offending behavior is unintentional, it becomes obvious that punishing the child for social skill errors is unfair, inappropriate, and ineffective.
3. Traditional approaches to social skill remediation-role-playing, demonstrations, discussions-are not effective and seldom on a positive impact on the development of the children's social competence (Lavoie, 2005, p. xlvii-xlviii).

          This technique can be effective because it "creates a real-life laboratory" for children to learn, develop, and apply correct social responses.Social Skill Autopsy has five separate stages: 

1. Ask your child to explain what happened. You will want your child to tell you the whole story, starting from the beginning.
2. Ask your child to identify the mistake that he made. This is a difficult stage for many children with special needs. Your child may be unclear on what he actually did wrong.
3. Assist your child in determining the actual social error that he made. At this stage you discuss with your child the actual social mistake and alternate responses.
4. Create a short social story that has the same basic moral or goal as your child’s social mistake. Once you present the scenario, your child should provide a response to show that she has learned the skill.
5. Provide social homework. Your child should be required to apply their newly learned skill in a real-life situation that he identifies. When he has done this, he should report back to you what has happened (Lavoie, 2005, p. li-liii).

          This technique provides the child with immediate feedback, instruction, practice, and positive reinforcement. If, as a parent, you chose to practice this strategy, I feel that it is important to remember that it is challenging to work with a special needs child, especially on social skill development. Everyday activities and interactions that seem simple to you, can be challenging and difficult and their behavior will be frustrating, annoying and confusing. However, if you react with patience and positive reinforcement, you are sure to help your special needs child succeed socially, even if it is only a tiny success.

Best of luck.

Please respond with questions, comments, concerns.
-Kristin L.

References:
Lavoie, R. (2005). It's so much work to be your friend: helping the child with learning disbilities find social success. New York, NY: Touchstone.