This presentation will focus on sharing the experiences of running the SAS program as well as the impact on program development planning, staff development and preliminary client outcomes from the first offering of the program. Since we are currently preparing to start the pilot, the information below is a description of the program components and strategies.
Description of PROGRAM – “Secret Agent Society”
The Secret Agent Society Program uses exciting espionage themed games and interactive activities to improve the social and emotional skills of 8-12 year old children with Autism Spectrum Disorders by teaching them skills such as:
- How to recognize simple and complex emotions in themselves and others.
- How to express feelings in appropriate ways.
- How to cope with feelings of anger and anxiety.
- How to start, continue and end conversations and play activities with others.
- How to tell the difference between friendly joking and mean teasing.
- How to manage bullying.
- How to cope with making mistakes.
- How to handle new situations and ask for help when needed.
Program Structure
SAS is a multi-component program that aims to empower not only children with ASDs, but also the parents and teachers who support them. The program components include:
- Child group meetings
- Concurrent parent support sessions
- Teacher tip sheets and phone calls
- SAS computer game and home missions
- 3 month and 6 month follow up
Generalization Strategies
Programming for generalization at the outset of a social skills program is essential for meaningful improvement to be possible. Understanding the generalization of social skills is does not readily occur for individuals on the autism spectrum without explicit programming for generalization. The SAS program curriculum and components provide an excellent example of how to facilitate the generalization and maintenance of the skills taught to home and school environments by using a variety of strategies. These generalization strategies (Stokes & Baer, 1987) include:
- Systematic Modification across Settings
- Parents and school staff are provided specific recommendations on how to support the child in practicing and using the social skills learned when at home and school. This occurs during weekly parent group sessions, Parent Workbook, weekly Teacher Tip Sheets, and phone or face-to-face support to school staff. A Home-School Diary supports monitoring the child’s use of the skills daily and facilitates the parents in providing at-home rewards for applying skills at school.
- Introducing Natural Maintaining Contingencies
- Weekly journals completed by the children and home-school diaries support the child with becoming aware of the benefits of using the skills. The program also supports peer awareness training for this purpose.
- Train Sufficient Exemplars
- Skills are practiced with a range of different adults, contexts and settings to optimize generalization.
Train Loosely
- Parents and school staff are taught to encourage and prompt skills use in the moment in real-life. Session practice is aimed at mimicking real life situations as well.
Use Indiscriminable Contingencies
- Reinforcement through home-rewards are initially provided daily and then faded to a random schedule.
Program Common Stimuli
- Children are provided with pocket sized “code cards” that provide a reminder of skills steps when outside of the group. Also, a Cadet Handbook allows the children to refer back to lessons at home.
Mediate Generalization
- Self-monitoring is used through the Home-School Diary and encourages self-awareness of progress.
Train “To Generalize”
- Children are explicitly instructed, prompted and praised for using their skills in a variety of contexts outside of the group and with different people. The expectations become more challenging as the child progresses through the program to encourage demonstrated the required skills in new contexts.
Evidence Base
The only published study of SAS is a randomized-controlled trial has shown that children with Asperger’s Disorder who participated in the Secret Agent Society (SAS) Program showed greater improvements in social and emotion management skills than children who received treatment as usual during the intervention period. In fact, the social skills of 76% of children improved to within the range of their typically developing peers. This study also showed improvements in social functioning were maintained five months after the program ended (Beaumont & Sofronoff, 2008).
Following the first run of the group in January 2013, we have committed to running two more Secret Agent Society groups in Fall 2013 that we will evaluate to contribute the growing evidence base about the SAS program. By embedding evaluation of individual and program-wide goals in all our social skills groups we are able to inform ongoing enhancement of our social skills program to best meet the needs of the families and children we serve.
As with all of our programs, our goal is successful community inclusion. This program is a tremendous stepping stone on the path for those with autism to be included into their schools and community programs which will benefit them for life.
Debbie Irish, DSW
Chief Operating Officer
Geneva Centre for Autism
Debbie joined Geneva Centre for Autism to develop respiteservices.com. Debbie has held a number of positions: Manager of the Training Institute, Program Director and most recently Chief Operating Officer. Debbie has presented at a number of conferences on Person-Directed Planning, respite models, adult models of service, and elearning.
Kristina Kelley-Walsh
Kristina Kelley-Walsh is the Social Skills Facilitator at the Geneva Centre for Autism. She has worked with people with disabilities for the past seven years, with a specific focus on ASD. Kristina is dedicated and passionate about helping individuals with ASD achieve skills to live more independent and meaningful lives.