Social Skills Training for Children with Autism: A Literature Review

Running head: SOCIOLOGY
SOCIOLOGY
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1SOCIOLOGY
Introduction
The Autism Spectrum disorder can be defined as a developmental disability which is
characterized by issues in social communication along with restriction or repetitive pattern in
thought as well as behaviour of an individual. Children, who are suffering from Autism, find it
highly difficult to develop social as well as cognitive skills. According to Plavnick, Kaid &
MacFarland, (2015), the occurrence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been found to get
enhanced with in the past decade. According to a survey conducted in the year 2025, an
estimated 164,000 individuals possessed autism in Australia, which represents approximately in
1 in 15 individuals. In the year 2061-2017, more than 43,500 individual opted for disability
support services under the national Disability agreement. It has been found that amongst
individual suffering from autism, more than 35.6 percent of the sufferers are of the age ranging
from 7 to 15 years (Plavnick, Kaid & MacFarland, 2015). Thus it can be understood that Autism
possesses higher potential to affect children and adolescents. (Weiss & Harris, 2001) stated that
despite the ubiquitous nature of the mental disorder, the remedy of autism remains one of the
most challenging issues for psychologists from decades. In spite of the fact that in the past
decade major progress with psychological heath of human beings have been made, this specific
Genre needs to be investigated and assessed an thus much work remains to be performed (Pau et
al., 2013). The intervention for ASD that has been earlier in the applied behaviour analysis was
more paying attention on skills like making eye contact as well as exchanging hugs. However in
this era, the field has got matured and thus it ranges from teaching children with autism for
offering assistance to an individual which is apparently in distress along with teaching pretend
play as well as sociodramatic play (Laugeson et al., 2012) .

2SOCIOLOGY
While above mentioned interventions have been taken by quite a few academic institution,
limited change in the rate of autism amongst school children has been noticed. Children suffering
from Autism chiefly face difficulties in social interaction. The rate of their difficulty varies from
being mild to severe with respect to their age and the social environment that they live in. It has
been pointed out by Sallows & Graupner, (2005) even mild difficulties in communication in
tender age posses the potential to imposed adverse and lifelong impact on an individual’s social
skill development. Thus with enhanced awareness about ASD in children a good number of
social skill training and interventions have been developed.
The chief aim of this literature review is to understand the degree to which the social skill
training posses the potential to improve spoken language in children who are suffering from
Autism. The age range that has been selected for this literature review rages from 8 years to 12
years aged children that is chiefly school going children and early adolescents (Keen et al.,
2016). The study has been conducted for analysing the language as well as the pragmatic
behaviour of the children of the mentioned age range (Keen et al., 2016). The chief themes on
the basis of which the literature review has bee conducted include the chief issues faced by
children suffering from Autism, Different types of social skill interventions and their
effectiveness
Chief communication issues faced by children with Autism
According to Bohlander, Orlich & Varley, (2012) children suffering from ASD are found
to be self obsessed and self observed. Considering the fact that they lack of skill of social
interaction, most of the time they are found to be emerged in their own world. It has been found
that while Autism can affect any children irrespective of their race, ethic group a well as