Autism

Attacking Social Interaction A Pre-Vocational Training Manual for Ages 17+ includes more than 140 activities to promote success in the workplace and in the community. The AASIP Pre-Vocational Training Program provides a comprehensive yet practical approach to teaching social communication skills needed in the workplace and across the life span to individuals with moderate to high functioning autism spectrum disorder and other diagnoses that result in social communication deficits. The book brings added value by including activities that address three additional core clusters of personal development, social skills for life, and daily living. The Pre-Vocational Training Program has been described as unique and fresh and approaches vocational training with a primary focus on the social skills needed to be effective in the workplace. Topics presented in this program include sexting-texting and TMI (too much information), workplace idioms, social white lies, shades of no, the workplace bully, and unwritten rules of society. These engaging activities, which include interactive videos, deviate from the typical approach to teaching by challenging the participants to explore, develop rules, and generate strategies. This approach takes into consideration their unique strengths and learning styles. Our teen and young adult participants are left asking for more. This program, while developed for speech-language pathologists, can also be easily used by high school and college counselors, special educators, job coaches, and parents who express an interest in this type of program. The AASIP program offers three additional books for children ages 4-9, 10-12, and the teen years.