The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

A family will speak about their experiences starting the first center in San Francisco that provides integrated social groups for children with and without autism. The mother, who is also a college professor, will speak about what she has discovered from the center about children's social development, and her 11-year-old son with autism will talk about his experience in his integrated video groups. The father and center director will talk about how the center was started and maintained. The Autism Social Connection: In this presentation, a family that has worked for the last two years to help found and develop a community-based center that provides integrated socialization services for children and adults with autism will speak about their experiences. The Autism Social Connection is the first inclusive Center in San Francisco that provides integrated social groups for children and adults with and without autism. In this presentation, they will focus on three main topics. First, the presenters will talk about the Center, what it is, what they do, and their collaboration with San Francisco State University. Second, Garrett Lees, the child with Autism who will be presenting with the group, and William Davenport, the Center director, will show videos of the various groups (including Garrett's video group) and talk about the Center. Third, the mother, who is also a college professor, will speak about what she has discovered from the Center's various groups and from the play guides about social development of children with autism and the development of social and moral dispositions of children without autism.

The First Integrated Social Program in San Francisco: At the beginning of the presentation, William Davenport and Garrett Lees will talk about the Center, what services we provide, how many children we have worked with over the last two years, and show videos of the various groups that the children are involved in at the Center. Garrett will talk about what the Center means to him and show some specific videos that his group created. William will talk about other social groups and the local TV show that is airing in San Francisco produced by the children at the Center on the topic of autism.

Social Development: Dr. Pamela LePage will examine past theories of social skills development in light of the research now going on at the Center. She will discuss the types of data being collected and her initial impressions of various stages of social skills development at various ages. She will discuss the work of Pamela Wolfberg's Integrated Playgroup's Model and how it has worked in practice at the Center including when and how it worked best. She will talk about Michele Garcia Winner's techniques of social thinking and how they might be incorporated into an integrated setting.

Dr. LePage will also talk about the need to rethink some strategies in light of changes in the way that children without autism now socialize and play. She refers to the kids today as the “You-Tube Generation” where typically developing peers engage in fairly sophisticated types of pretend play at a young age. Fifteen years ago children were not playing with computers and video games. They were not developing Web sites and organizing friendship networks through Facebook and MySpace. Social networking for children with autism needs to be understood in the contemporary context of the social experience of their typical peers. Traditional toy play is more often associated with younger children.

Dr. LePage will also talk about the need to set up social programs that are very individualized. Some of the lessons learned from the Center's first year suggest that every child is an individual and that programs need to remain flexible. First, we need to be cognizant of where children are developmentally. Second, we need to understand what parents want for their children, listen to what they can tell us about their children's social needs, and understand their philosophy about autism. Third, we need to use the special skills of children with autism and their focused interests. We need to understand what the child might need with regard to how many friends with and without autism should be placed in the various groups, how the children function together in the groups, how the typical peers relate with each other and with the children with autism and what type of group they should join. Finding the right combination, so that children not only have fun, but also work well together on social development and identity development (for both groups) as well as other skill development (e.g., language or art) takes a lot of thought and preparation. This is important, but also labor intensive for integrated social programs.

There is also still quite a bit of confusion associated with the fact that the public still thinks that all children with autism have “behavior problems” as opposed to a social difference or disabilities. Many professionals are still trying to change children's behaviors and treating children as though how they act is “bad or wrong.” Flapping one's arms and talking too much about airplanes are not bad behaviors. And, yet some children with autism are treated like social pariahs who need some type of extensive behavior management plan, instead of children who need to be aware of the social consequences to the way they present themselves in public. And, typically developing friends need to understand their differences. Garrett describes the process he went through in 4th grade when he was having trouble getting along with the other children in his class. He decided to talk to his class about his autism. In this discussion, he will explain how William from the Center, and also Heather from Friend 2 Friend came down to help him talk to his class about autism. And in a subsequent follow up, he talked to the class by himself about autism. He describes his experiences.

Developing the Center: David, the father, and William, the Center Director will talk about how the Center was started and maintained. They will talk a bit about how the Center was founded. They will talk about the challenges they faced, the many successes they have had, and some initial mistakes that can be avoided by others seeking to set up similar Centers. They will talk about how the Center is funded, specifically their experiences with government funding (city, state, and federal) and also charitable funding. They will talk about how difficult it is to get funding for integrated social groups for children with autism when most funders see social groups as "fun time" for children instead of something important that helps children with autism learn important skills. They will talk about how they have made connections with family members, community members, and with college faculty. Discussion: The group plans to allow a lot of time for questions and also for discussion so that the audience has time to interact with the speakers and with each other.

Learning Objectives: