Self-Help Skills For People With Autism: A Systematic Teaching Approach (Topics In Autism)

Self-Help Skills for People with Autism: A Systematic Teaching Approach (Topics in Autism)

(2008 IPPY Award: Bronze Medalist, Psychology/Mental Health)Learning self-help skills (eating, dressing, toileting, and personal hygiene) can be challenging for people with autism, but is essential for independence. SELF-HELP SKILLS FOR PEOPLE WITH AUTISM thoroughly describes a systematic approach that parents and educators can use to teach basic self-care to children, ages 24 months to early teens, and even older individuals.With an encouraging tone, the authors--behavior analysts and psychologists--emphasize that it's worthwhile to devote the extra time and effort now to teach skills rather than have your child be forever dependent on others. The many case studies throughout SELF-HELP SKILLS depict individuals with deficits in specific self-care tasks, and demonstrate how a coordinated and systematic approach is effective in teaching more complex skills. For example, a 12-year-old with the self-feeding skills of a toddler (who was excluded from the school cafeteria), is taught to stay at the table to eat a full meal using utensils.The book's beginning chapters explain the teaching process in detail: Specify the target skill to be taught after prioritizing the self-care tasks that are most important and will likely have the greatest success rate; Use task analysis to break complex skills into a series of small steps that will later be linked together to form the more complex skill; Apply a systematic approach to instruction that consistently employs proven methods for teaching people with autism including verbal prompting, reinforcers/rewards, chaining, graduated guidance, shaping, modeling, visual supports, etc.; Monitor progress by collecting and analyzing data; Modify the approach as needed to achieve the target goal.A chapter is devoted to each of the four skill areas (eating, dressing, toileting, personal hygiene) offering detailed insight and specific instruction strategies. Appendices contain forms to complete for task analyses, instructional plans, and data collection.Review"Parents will appreciate the authors' patient, encouraging tone, not to mention their comprehensive coverage of eating, toileting, dressing, and personal hygiene. This latest entry in the publisher's Topics in Autism series is recommended for public and academic libraries with autism collections." --Library Journal, August 2007

Self-Help Skills uses an engaging format to educate the reader; the text is consumer-friendly and accompanied by easy-to-understand tables, sidebars and many useful worksheets. --CAPHIS Consumer Connections'I can do it myself!' What parent hasn't heard these five words uttered by their child at various ages and stages of growth? Asserting independence is a typical part of development for most kids. However, autism can change all that, and even basic self-help skills like dressing, eating, toileting, and hygiene can be a challenge. Even smart kids with ASD become teens without knowing how to care for themselves. What's a parent to do?Start now, no matter what you child's age, with this dazzler book as your guide: Self-Help Skills for People with Autism. Cover to cover we loved its systematic, functional approach for teaching self-help skills to spectrum kids, toddlers to teens, nonverbal to verbal. Parents learn to assess their child's functioning levels, set objectives, break skills down into simple tasks, and use step-by-step teaching strategies to help their child become successful and independent. Lots of lists, charts, visuals and question sets take the guess-work out of teaching. (See table 3-3) Valuable information for parents and educators alike. --Autism Asperger's Digest, May/June 2008About the AuthorStephen R. Anderson is the Executive Director of Summit Educational Resources, which serves children and young adults with developmental disabilities. He is a licensed psychologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst. Amy L. Jablonski is a licensed psychologist and directs