The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Perspective taking is a core component of an individual's ability to successfully engage in social interactions with others. The ability to develop and maintain social relationships is dependent on the ability to identify the emotions, desires, thoughts and intentions of others. This understanding of perspectives allows an individual to interpret the behavior of others and respond appropriately in social situations.  Individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) often struggle with these key areas of social cognition.  Without the ability to understand the verbal and non-verbal behavior of others in complex ways, these deficits can impact the individual’s ability to navigate through the social world and experience positive social relationships.  This course will examine the importance of perspective taking skills instruction for individuals with ASD, and how the lack of these skills can lead to social difficulties for many. Core perspective taking skills will be defined and discussed, and specific evidence-based teaching procedures will be reviewed that have been effective in teaching these skills to individuals with ASD.  This course will review ABA-based strategies for teaching perspective taking and effectively generalizing skill targets into natural social environments. Short case vignettes and video clips will be presented and discussed which demonstrate teaching procedures. Additionally, emerging ages of each perspective taking skill within the course of typical skill development will be identified, and recommended prerequisite skills will be reviewed.

Learning Objectives for Participants:

1. Participants will identify perspective taking skills and their importance in social competency
2. Participants will identify common perspective taking challenges for individuals with ASD
3. Participants will identify and define core perspective taking skills, and how foundational skills are required for understanding complex concepts such as sarcasm and intentions
4. Participants will identify and review specific evidence-based teaching procedures to improve perspective taking and guidelines for effective generalization of these skills to natural situations
5. Participants will identify the importance of integrating perspective taking skills into the development of other developmental skill domains

This course is appropriate for BCBAs, BCaBAs, special education instructors, speech and language therapists, individuals with ASD, parents and any other professionals involved in the instruction, care and treatment of individuals with ASD.