As you identify moments of pleasure for the people you work and live with, consider:
What nonverbal cues are associated with enjoyment for this person?
Who knows the person best and can help you to understand the person’s unique cues?
How and where can you observe the person to better understand how he or she shows happiness?
It is the synergy of shared space, shared focus, and shared pleasure in the context of a calm, alert state that defines the very special moments of ENGAGEMENT.
Shared pleasure can look different for everyone. Annie does not always laugh or smile when she is engaged. At times, her pleasure is expressed through a glance, a body gesture, or just an internal knowing that the skilled partner has connected with her. It can be brief or sustained. It looks different at pre-school than it does at home. Shared pleasure is a sense of being with another person. These moments of shared pleasure are what reinforce Annie to keep doing the very challenging work of “being social.” We know the desire is there; the challenge is to teach her the skills for ENGAGEMENT.
We have seen that ENGAGEMENT is the foundation of all social development and we have considered the four components of ENGAGEMENT: self-regulation, shared space, shared focus, and shared pleasure. These early components of “being social” need to be broken down into even smaller, measureable, meaningful sub-skills. A sub-skill for our purposes is a measurable, critical mini-skill that when combined with others can lead to proficiency in one of the components of ENGAGEMENT.
Measuring a small skill which comes so intuitively to others is a challenge. In this model, we will rate the sub-skills of ENGAGEMENT using a concrete dichotomy: YES, the learner is observed to use the skill in a social situation, or NO, the learner does not use the skill in a social situation.
As you can imagine, individuals will have specific times, places, and people that best allow them to demonstrate the sub-skills of ENGAGEMENT. Furthermore, if an individual is unable to self-regulate, it is important to recognize that the circumstance is not a teachable social moment and that self-regulation needs to be addressed. In contrast, if a person is self-regulated but having difficulty sharing space, focus, or pleasure, it is important to work in this area to succeed in moving up the steps to being social. The goal is to acquire a YES on all the sub-skills to make moving into the LOWER 4 more successful.
Critical Strategies to Enhance ENGAGEMENT
Shrink the space
Arranging a setting or environment to create boundaries often helps the learner feel comfortable, focus on the task at hand, and understand that he is with a social partner. For example, you can move to a corner of a room instead of the middle, sit as opposed to stand, or bring peers in on each side of the learner and use their bodies to build a “container,” a safe space, if you will, to help the learner realize we want him to share the space for a period of time.
Use motivating items or topics
Determining a person with ASD’s items of interest is one key to success. This can be done by asking family members, observing in different environments, presenting items that provide various sensory input, and respecting that each person has items and ideas that spark interest. This process can take patience. Is the person’s interest in the light rays moving in and out of his peripheral vision, is it a colored hanger and the way that it moves, is it the wind on his face when he runs, is it the car magazine, or the neighborhoods in Albuquerque, New Mexico? Is it the characters on Star Trek or the beat of certain music, or sink drains or Minecraft? Whatever it is, everyone has something that is motivating, and we need to find out what that is to support true social ENGAGEMENT (Grandin & Panek, 2014).
Limit the materials
The facilitator of the social interaction needs to be:
In control of when a preferred item is available
Able to make the preferred item available within the time span an individual is able to pay attention
In addition, it is critical to realize that more than one or two motivating items should be made available because an individual will become bored and satiate on only one motivating item or topic.
Increase the duration and frequency of the engaged moments
When you find those moments of ENGAGEMENT, you should work to hold them for a longer period of time. Look for opportunities to make them happen more frequently. These moments need to be practiced in a variety of settings, with a variety of people, and using a variety of items.
Identify and teach others the importance of ENGAGEMENT
Everyone needs to understand that being READY and then sharing space, focus, and pleasure is the foundation to understanding the social world.
Evidence-Based Practices (EBPs) to Support ENGAGEMENT
Evidence-based practice is a process for informed decision making. In this process, results of high-quality research are used in combination with professional expertise and individual and family preferences to determine appropriate practices to use for a specific intervention. This process makes clear that the experiences, values, and preferences of educators, interventionists, and those with whom we work should contribute equally to our clinical decisions. As with all interventions, ongoing assessment and data collection are critical to ensure that the interventions are effective for a specific individual (Boehm, 2016). Also, remember that our work in intervention is a blend of art and science; each professional, along with the family members with whom she partners, will bring her own history, personal skill set, and creativity to the amazing job of teaching social skills.
The National Professional Development Center (NPDC) on ASD is one source of information for learning about and using evidence-based practices, including information briefs, steps for implementation, and fidelity checklists (http://autismpdc.fpg.unc.edu/). The NPDC website provides links to Autism Focused Intervention Resources and Modules (AFIRM), with modules for learning about evidence-based practices. In addition, the National Autism Center has identified established and emerging treatments through the National Standards Project (www.nationalautismcenter.org). Many practices are identified by both organizations. Evidence-based practices linked to Social Engagement & the Steps to Being Social are based on practices defined by the NPDC.
Information about evidence-based practices in autism is available to practitioners and parents. These practices cover an enormous range of skills and abilities. Practically