Making Sense of Social Situations: How to Run a Group-Based Intervention Program for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) often demonstrate significant deficiencies in social interaction and social communication skills, so it is critical to understand and develop interventions which directly address these needs. This book explores the core areas of ASD development and related deficits, and introduces a practical program to assess and remediate these social competency issues. This book addresses the primary issues of social development in children with ASD by emphasizing the theoretical and pragmatic considerations that underlie these problems. Dr. Cotugno employs concepts and theories of group therapy and cognitive-developmental models and integrates them with skill-based instructional approaches into a comprehensive social competence program, called the Social Competence Enhancement Program (SCEP). This peer-based, group-focused therapeutic intervention program is explained in detail, including a step-by-step guide to its implementation and a full range of tasks and activities that can be used by practitioners at each stage of the process. This book will be a valuable resource for teachers, clinicians and all other professionals working with children with ASD who are interested in using group interventions as a means to treat social competency and social skills deficits.

Albert J. Cotugno, Ph.D., is a clinical and educational psychologist who has been providing group and individual psychotherapy services to learning, attention, and developmentally disabled children for over 30 years. He has gained extensive experience in clinical, educational, and school-based interventions through his work at the University of California at Berkeley, McLean Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital where he has directed the development of many assessment, evaluation and treatment services for special needs children. He currently resides in Needham, Massachusetts.