News, Advice, and Tips for Parenting Teenagers

It may be possible to teach autistic children better social skills in classes, according to a study from the University of California in Los Angeles.

Dr. Elizabeth Laugeson and her colleagues conducted twelve weekly 90-minute for high-functioning autistic children. Topics included etiquette, hosting a party, sportsmanship, and handling teasing and arguments. The parents of the children also attended classes to learn how to reinforce the lessons.

"It's hard enough to be a teenager, but it's harder still for adolescents with autism because they typically lack the ability to pick up on all the social cues most of us take for granted," Laugeson said in an April 27 Reuters article. "Things like body language, hand gestures and facial expressions, along with speech inflections like warmth, sarcasm or hostility."

Dr. Laugeson said that the children in the treatment groups experienced "significant" improvements in social skills.

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Labels: autism, social-skills