304HSC Research Project: Effective Social Interaction Methods

This research project investigates effective methods and strategies to encourage children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to interact socially with their peers and others, particularly within the UK context. It acknowledges autism as a spectrum disorder with varying symptoms that can be identified in childhood and adulthood. The study highlights the desire of many autistic children to engage socially, despite lacking necessary skills. It emphasizes the importance of incorporating social skills learning into educational plans, and it considers the roles of both teachers and parents in fostering social interaction and communication. The project draws upon case studies and literature to provide recommendations for improving the learning environment and utilizing psycho-pedagogy to enhance social development in children with autism. This assignment is available on Desklib, a platform offering study tools and resources for students.

Running head: EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
What are the Effective Methods to Encourage a Child with Autism Interact with Other Children?
Student Number
Name of the Module
Title of the Assessment
Assessment Number
Word Count

1EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Declaration

2EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Executive Summary
Autism is considered as spectrum disorder as children can be positioned in any place within the
spectrum. It has also been revealed by the researcher that children having autism spectrum
disorder indicate systems at an early stage; moreover, such symptoms can be identified in
childhood and adulthood. The aim of the research was to analyse the most effective methods to
encourage a child with autism interact with other children. It was gathered from the findings of
the research that several children with autism has an increased desire to engage in social
interactions they lack the necessary skills and because of such difficulties, it is important to
support the learning of social skills among children that must be encompassed within the
educational plan in schools. Based on the findings gathered from the case study on Autism,
certain effective recommendations are offered that can facilitate the teachers and the parents in
developing social interaction and communication skills among the autism students with other
people. This can be ensured through enhancing the learning environment along with increasing
the availability of learning materials for the students with special needs. Moreover, teachers can
also improve their sense of responsibility in enhancing social interaction.

3EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Acknowledgement
I would like to express the deepest appreciation to my committee chair Professor, who has the
attitude and the substance of a genius: he continually and convincingly conveyed a spirit of
adventure in regard to research and scholarship, and an excitement in regard to teaching. Without
his guidance and persistent help this dissertation would not have been possible.

4EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................6
1.0 Background............................................................................................................................6
1.1 Research aim..........................................................................................................................8
1.2 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................8
Chapter 2: Literature Review...........................................................................................................9
2.1. Introduction...........................................................................................................................9
2.2. Concept and Characteristics of Autism..............................................................................11
2.3. Educating Learners with Autism........................................................................................12
2.4. Teaching Social Integration for Learners with Autism......................................................14
2.5. Socio-Cultural Learning Theory.........................................................................................16
2.6. Research Gap......................................................................................................................17
Chapter 3: Methodology................................................................................................................18
3.0 Philosophy...........................................................................................................................18
3.1 Research design...................................................................................................................19
3.2 Research approach...............................................................................................................20
3.3 Data type used......................................................................................................................20
3.4 Research Strategy................................................................................................................21
3.5 Sampling method.................................................................................................................23

5EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
3.6 Type of analysis...................................................................................................................23
3.7 Time horizons......................................................................................................................24
3.8 Ethical aspects.....................................................................................................................24
3.9 Limitations...........................................................................................................................24
Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis..................................................................................................24
4.1. Research Aim and Objectives.........................................................................................24
4.2. Case Studies on Facilitating Social Interaction among Children with Autism..................25
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations..............................................................................30
5.1. Conclusion..........................................................................................................................30
5.2. Recommendations...............................................................................................................32
References......................................................................................................................................34

6EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.0 Background
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder that impacts the ability of
children to communicate and interact with others. Based on the National Autistic Society of UK,
there are approximately 700,000 autistic children and adult in the UK. Likewise, (Thompson,
McFerran and Gold 2014: 842), autism is called a spectrum disorder as children can be anywhere
on the spectrum of autism. It has been well identified by the researcher while conducting a
survey in the UK that children with autism spectrum disorder depict symptoms at an early age.
Additionally, such symptoms continue during childhood as well as adulthood. As suggested by
(Buggey and Ogle 2013:204), the reason behind children developing autism is still unknown;
however, it has been proposed that it might be caused due to a combination of genes they are
born with as well as certain things in their environment also triggers those genes. Furthermore, it
has been also analysed in the UK that there are two kinds of children with autism, (Lubetsky
2011: 67). The 1st kind of children with autism has issues relating to other people as well as
difficulties while making eye contact. Likewise, they seem uninterested in relating to their family
members. On the contrary, the 2nd kind of children with autism may have the tendency to keep
talking for too long with strangers, family members, and friends about a specific topic they are
obsessed with. This in turn critically pushes other people away.
As put forwarded by (Tager-Flusberg and Kasari 2013: 470), children with autism may
not be able to comprehend nonverbal communication, take things literally, inability to handle
more than one idea at a time and talks about a particular subject for too long. In other words, the
way they perceive the world is highly distinct compared to a normal child. On the other hand,

7EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
children with autism also face challenges in learning or educational activities due to their
developmental disability. It has been well stated by (Berry et al. 2013: 79), it is the responsibility
of both teachers and parents to be patient and persistent towards the children with autism in order
to develop their ways of learning as well as enhance the rate of interaction and communication
with others. Such alignment of view is limited in UK health and social communities. It is also
significant to show love and respect to the child in order to encourage them to develop new
social skills as well as must show different places with distinct interaction with other people and
children that would also assist to learn new things. As suggested by (), it is significant for parents
as well as teachers to keep on motivating the children with autism as it would encourage them to
develop their socialising skills and learning abilities.
Furthermore, the discipline of psycho-pedagogy has emerged in the particular field of
investigation for developing children with autism specifically in the UK. It has been well
suggested by (Casenhiser, Shanker and Stieben 2013: 235); psycho-pedagogy integrates
interdisciplinary conductive activity and method. It assists children with autism to enhance their
education and conduction as well as cure psychic disturbances of children. Likewise, it includes
therapy and rehabilitation for children with autism to develop both emotional and personal
attributed to children. It is a significant method that has got attention in the UK as the
determinant of health and social communities that assists to develop the socio-cultural and
learning activities of children with autism; however, the support from parents and teachers needs
to be aligned with such developmental objective, (Hourcade et al. 2013: 3201). In relation to
such context, the proposed study would analyse significant methods and strategies for
developing children with autism by social interaction with children and other people through a
qualitative aspect with special reference to the UK.

8EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
1.1 Research aim
As stated by (Ennis-Cole Durodoye and Harris 2013: 285), autism is a critical lifelong
developmental disability that affects the perception of people to view the world as well as
interact with others. The main aim of this project is to analyse effective methods and strategies
for encouraging children with autism to socialise and interact with other children and people in
society at ease with regard to the UK. In addition, the rationale behind the project is based on the
study of autism specifically in the analysis of joint action between primary school teachers and
psycho-pedagogy. It has been analysed that very little information or exploration has been made
in this particular field of investigation by the past researchers. Hence, the proposed study aims to
depict the significance of the joint contribution of both primary school teachers and psycho-
pedagogy for assisting children with autism with regards to the UK in order to overcome their
learning difficulties and socialise with other people. The findings of the study would contribute
to the particular field of investigation assisting teachers and parents to efficiently deal with
children with autism specifically based on UK health and social communities. It also offers wide
scope for the future researcher to integrate psycho-pedagogy in this particular field with intrinsic
information for developing other effective methods.
1.2 Research Objectives
Based on the background and aim of the study, to analyse the methods and strategies for
developing the children with autism by social interaction with children and other people with
special reference to the UK, following are the objectives-
 To explore the impact of autism on children’s developmental disability;
 To analyse the issues associated with children with autism;

9EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
 To comprehend the joint contribution of primary school teachers and psycho-pedagogy
towards developing children with autism for better learning and social interactions with
regards to the UK;
 To identify effective methods for encouraging children with autism to socialise and
interact with other people and children in society with regards to the UK.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1. Introduction
Autism Spectrum Disorder is a developmental disorder which affects the ability of children
in interacting with others. Relied on UK “National Autistic Society”, there are around 700000
autistic children along with audits within UK (Williford et al. 2018: 211). Autism is considered
as a spectrum disorder as children can be positioned in any place within the spectrum. It has also
been revealed by the researcher that children having autism spectrum disorder indicate systems
at an early stage; moreover, such symptoms can be identified in childhood and adulthood
(Alvesson and Sköldberg 2017: 107). The reasons for which these people developed autism are
remained unknown. It has also even proposed that it might have resulted due to combination of
genes they are born with along with that certain environmental aspects also triggers such genes.
Moreover, it has been revealed that there are two classes of children with autism among them the
first kind are children having autism facing issues related with interacting with other people
along with difficulties in making eye contact. These children are seemed to be not that interested
in associating with their family members. On the other hand, second category of children with
autism have a tendency of continuing to talk for a long time with strangers, family members and

10EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
friends regarding a particular topic they are highly obsessed (Arunachalam and Luyster 2018:
67). This tends to push people away.
Children having autism disorder might not be capable to comprehend the non-verbal
communication, accepting things literally, inability to deal with more than one idea at a time
along with taking about a specific subject over a long duration. In adoption, the manner in which
these children perceive the world is quite different in comparison to a normal child. In contrast,
children facing with autism deal with challenges in learning or education conduct because of
developmental disability. It has also been stated by Bitsika, Sharpley and Mailli (2015: 210) that
the teachers and the parents must be responsible to remain persistent and patient with children
with autism through developing learning techniques with improving the communication with
others. It is also important to treat the autism children dealing with autism with respect for
encouraging them to learn new things. It is important for teachers and parents to regularly
motivate these children that can encourage them to improve their learning and socializing skills
and abilities.
Moreover, the psycho-pedagogy discipline has emerged in this specific research field for
developing children having autism. It has also been gathered that psycho-pedagogy integrates
interdisciplinary conductive method and activity (Blake et al. 2017: 22). This facilitates children
with autism to improve their learning and education along with addressing psychic issues faced
by children. Similarly, it also encompasses therapy along with rehabilitation of children facing
autism in developing the personal and emotional attributes of children. It is also considered as an
important method that supports in developing the socio-cultural along with learning activities of
children facing autism and support of teachers and parents requires being aligned with
developmental objective. In consideration to such aspect, the researcher has evaluated important

11EFFCTIVE WAYS IN ENCOURAGING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM
strategies and methods in developing children having autism through social interaction with
children and different people by a qualitative study (Chen, Lee and Lin 2016: 39).
2.2. Concept and Characteristics of Autism
Costa et al. (2015: 111) defined autism as a spectrum disorder that results in a range of
social skills deficit along with communication. Individuals on the high-functioning end of the
spectrum can survive without facing increased troubles but the ones with lower functioning can
deal with several challenges all through their lives. These researchers also stated that autism is
attaining an increased attention from researchers those are seeking to raise its symptoms and the
manners to improve them for offering the autistic individuals a better quality of life. Cunha et al.
(2016: 212) stated that as the autism spectrum disorder is associated with relatively new
diagnosis, the researchers are testing several distinct intervention techniques. Kossyvaki, Jones
and Guldberg (2016: 97) revealed that the research designs employed within research analyzing
social interaction strategies used for treating children with Autism are segmented into
exploratory, explanatory and descriptive research design. Exploratory research design is relied
on secondary sources and focuses on effective data collection by means of case studies, survey
method or focus groups. This develops the qualitative aspect of the research. Descriptive
research deign is employed in analyzing the inner relationships along with properties of a
particular process relied on research. It is relied on the survey evaluation and develops a basis of
primary resources. Explanatory research design explains the cause-effect relationship of the
research through evaluating the relationship among various variables (Kumar 2019: 102).
Autism is considered as a process to describe children with certain types of social
deficits. The recent criteria for autism are considered to be the persistent effects in social
communication along with interaction with repetitive behaviour patterns, interests or activities.