Reframing Social Skills Practices for Autistic Students: A Responsive Framework for Assessment and Intervention

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social communication deficits are one of the defining features of autism spectrum disorder. In schools, social communication deficits are assumed to be due to a skill acquisition issue and remediated through social skills instruction; however, social skills instruction has been fairly criticized, particularly by those in the autistic community, as serving the needs of third parties (e.g. teachers) rather than the autistic student by teaching and reinforcing a neurotypical standard of social behavior and minimizing autistic perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework for culturally-relevant and flexible social skills assessment and intervention that emphasizes student autonomy, functionally relevant outcomes, and culturally sensitive social skill development. The hope is that this framework can be used to generate further research into the effectiveness and acceptability of a new paradigm of social skills instruction.