Masters Thesis

Multi-pronged curriculum for facilitating positive relationships between children living with autism spectrum disorder and their siblings

The purpose of this project is to create a comprehensive integrated psychoeducational social skills group and support group for children living with autism spectrum disorder [ASD] and their siblings of typical development [TD]. This 10-week intervention will include education about ASD, provide positive emotional support for the TD sibling, and present strategies that the both siblings can use to increase positive interactions with each other and peers. Children living with ASD struggle to make friends in elementary school. This curriculum focuses on skills that will assist the child living with ASD in the quest to make a friend. The curriculum will cover material such as the concept of ā€œIā€ statements, identifying and understanding predictable and unpredictable behavior, problem solving, learning socially acceptable behavior when playing a game, learning to incorporate new tools that assist in reading social cues, sharing thoughts, staying on topic, and entering a group conversation. The goals of this curriculum are to support the TD sibling, provide a better understanding of the challenges his or her sibling living with ASD is facing, learning coping skills for the TD sibling to use with peers and his or her sibling living with ASD, to facilitate improvement in sibling interactions and increasing the prospect that the child living with ASD can establish a positive relationship with peers when implementing the skills introduced in the intervention.

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