School Safety: What Works?

Social skills training (SST) is a well-established, evidence-based practice for teaching students with ASD to interact more effectively with peers and adults. Research has demonstrated that, regardless of the program used, the way in which teachers and other education professionals approach this instruction can be highly beneficial, but can also cause harm. SST that ensure benefits to both social communication skills and mental health outcomes should avoid two practices. First, the focus on social skills can highlight social communication deficits in some students, leading to self-doubt and a reduction in self-esteem. Also, the emphasis on certain discrete skills such as making eye contact can cause anxiety for certain individuals, and is culturally bound. An emphasis on “masking” or “camouflaging” autistic-like behaviors may allow students to blend in more readily, at the expense of their sense of self-confidence and authenticity. Teaching social skills in a way that is self-affirming and empowering to students with ASD requires a shift in mindset; a change that will assist educators and other professionals to promote greater social efficacy while validating diverse ways of interacting and relating to others.
The ideas presented in this session are derived from a review of the literature regarding social skills training practices for students with ASD and of the literature relating to mental health outcomes for secondary students with ASD. The assumption is made that social skills instruction can be approached in such a way that the benefits may result for students in terms of increased frequency and effectiveness of social interactions with peers in particular, without adding to negative effects which impact self-confidence, self-esteem, self-acceptance, and authenticity of students with ASD.
Specific research presented during the session will include reviews of the Social Thinking Curriculum (Crooke & Winner, 2020; Winner, 2022), the SCERTS Model (Prizant et al., 2003), and the UCLA PEERS Program (Laugeson & Frankel, 2005; Laugeson et al., 2012). Information about mental health outcomes for students with ASD will be derived from current research (Lai et al., 2019; Ratcliffe et al., 2015; Koudys et al., 2021).

Session outcomes will be achieved through the presentation of current research about effective approaches to SST for students with ASD and information about mental health outcomes for this population. A visual and interactive approach will be used to present important concepts presented during the session. Participants will be asked to interact with other session attendees in discussing session concepts and key takeaways. Hands-on activities will be incorporated and participants will produce a permanent product to be taken with them after the session.