Building Social Relationships 2: A Systematic Approach to Teaching Social Interaction Skills to Children and Adolesents With Autism Spectrum

Too often social skill interventions are designed merely as a reaction to problem behaviors. This often results in parents and practitioners "chasing" problem behaviors while failing to systematically teach social skills. Social skills programming should be an essential aspect of every educational and therapeutic program for children and adolescents on the autism spectrum. Unfortunately, few youth on the spectrum are receiving effective social skills programming. Many parents are tremendously concerned about their child's social functioning and their future quality of life. They see their children struggling to build and maintain social relationships. They see them experiencing peer failure, rejection, and relentless bullying on a regular basis. Most importantly, they see their children dealing with intense social anxiety, depression, and social isolation. Not coincidentally, practitioners are often frustrated by the tepid results of their social skills program.The Building Social Relationships (BSR) program was created to address the need for effective social skills programming. The BSR program is a systematic social skills program that addresses both social cognitive processing and social skill performance. Building Social Relationships-2 (BSR-2) provides readers with a conceptualized framework that will improve their understanding of social functioning in youth on the autism spectrum. The book will teach readers how to assess and teach social skills and activate social cognitive processing in both children and adolescents. BSR-2 contains over 40 instructional strategies and includes a revised version of the Autism Social Skills Profile (ASSP-2), an instrument designed to measure social competence in youth on the spectrum.Now, more than ever, our field and, more importantly, our children are in desperate need of effective social skills programing. BSR-2 was written based on the belief that we have long undervalued social skill instruction in our schools and clinics and that we have significantly underestimated the social potential of individuals on the spectrum. We don't just need more social skills programming, we need better social skills programming. BSR-2 will guide readers on the path to better programming and improved social outcomes. It will allow parents and practitioners to practice with purpose and to systematically address the social skill and social cognitive needs of youth on the autism spectrum.

I am currently the Director of the Social Skills Research Clinic (SSRC), a university based center specializing in developing and empirically examining the outcomes of social skill interventions for youth with ASD. I am also a faculty member in the School Psychology program at Indiana University, Bloomington, a licensed psychologist in the state of Indiana, and an endorsed Health Services Provider in Psychology. I am currently conducting research on professional development outcomes for educators, anxiety disorders, and social skill interventions, including video modeling for youth on the autism spectrum. I have published numerous research manuscripts and have provided consultation and training to families and professionals in over 35 states on the topic of social skills programming for students with ASD. I am the author of the book, Building Social Relationships, which was named the Literary Work of the Year by the Autism Society of America.