Social Skills shown Simply

Friendships are very difficult when social skills are limited. But how do we learn social skills if they don’t come automatically? Model Me Kids might have the solution.

Model Me Kids is an organization which makes videos that teach social skills explicitly. For example, a page of their workbook breaks down the steps required to say hello: 1. Turn to face person. 2. Look at person. 3. Say Hello. It assumes nothing about previous knowledge which means even the most inept can improve their skills with these videos. A different section takes the viewer through a variety of facial expressions: What does disbelief look like?: Eyes raise, lips purse, and head turns back. Although the expressions are greatly exaggerated, they will help to show the young child that the face is an important place to look for information, and will give older children and teens a way to recognize emotions. The fact that it is a DVD allows the same scene to be replayed multiple times until the nuance can be understood.

There are currently 6 videos available, one of which has an accompanying teacher and student workbook to ensure the child gets the most out the experience. From the samples, it appears the first 3, “Time for School, Time for a Playdate, and I Can Do It” are mostly geared toward younger kids, while the second 3 “Conversation Cues, Friendship, and Tips & Tricks” are more designed for older kids and teens. But it probably would not be detrimental to begin with the first three videos to ensure those skills are cemented before moving on to the more advanced tapes.

The DVDs are slightly expensive, at $30 each, but you may consider splitting the cost with your autism support group or seeing if the local outreach center will buy one for their resource collection. And if you consider the times you will potentially use them, the cost per viewing is substantially lower than your average video.

My friends and I have discovered that the videos aren’t just good for simple educational watching, but also for conversation starters. Emily and I have been running through the extended saying “Hello” process, and practicing modelling social expressions and calling them out. Other students have asked us about what exactly we think we’re doing, which has given us a chance to educate a bit about social skills and autism. For some fun this weekend, we’re planning on a suite viewing of one of the videos. (Ok, we might be nerds, but I think this has been previously established).

To learn more about Model Me Kids, visit this site, or friend @ModelMeKids on Twitter. And be sure to participate in the Twitter Site Warming Party for Model Me Kids planned for April 1st (Yours truly will be a panel member!).