The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

The FRIEND program is designed to improve social communication skills in individuals with ASDs. Guidelines for peer sensitivity, strategies parents and school communities can use to help individuals build social confidence and competence, will be presented. The FRIEND program has been successfully embedded in pre-employment and community settings. This program can be adapted to individuals of any age or skill level. Encouraging understanding of differences unique to ASDs builds positive social interactions and quality of life for all participants. The movement toward the educational inclusion of children with autism spectrum disorders has been encouraged by professionals who argue that exposure to typically developing children will enhance the competence of children with ASD. However, it is not enough to merely place a child with an ASD in the same classroom with typical peers.
For individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) or other social differences, the school experience is often a lonely one.  The core social, communication, and behavioral challenges characteristic of this and/or other disorders impact the development of meaningful social relationships. Typical children may ignore the student with differences out of ignorance, or as a way to be polite and accepting.  In other situations, students with ASD or other social differences can be victims of teasing or bullying.  Without the implementation of a comprehensive social-skills program, children with ASD or other differences are vulnerable and often neglected by their classmates. 
While children are often willing to befriend a child with ASD or other differences, they need a certain amount of training, structure, and encouragement to do so.  Children who are taught to understand, play and communicate with a child with ASD, or other differences, are more likely to develop confidence and interest in helping that child over time.  At the same time, when children with ASD or other differences are prompted, encouraged, and supported by their peers in natural settings throughout the school day and year, they have the opportunity to learn and practice emerging social skills. Developing a sense of social competence in classmates and the individual with ASD or other differences is necessary in the education program.
The FRIEND Program, for K-12, offers an opportunity for a student with ASD to develop and improve social communication skills throughout the school day and across all settings. These skills are modeled, prompted and encouraged by peers and others within the naturalistic school community.  This program comes in an easy-to-use manual that provides steps for program implementation, strategies for creating friend groups for students with ASD and their typical peers during lunch and other less structured school activities, guidelines for providing peer sensitivity training, and TIPS for parents, peers, and educators. The TIPS are  designed for all ages as guidelines for teachers and parents to help teach their child/student with ASD, or other differences, strategies for social communication both in the home, school, and community.

Learning Objectives: