1. Social Skills in Children with Autism  April Leah Clinard  Governor’s Teacher’s Network  Staff meeting for October 28, 2014

2. What is Governor’s Teachers Network?  An initiative created by NCDPI in collaboration with the Governor Pat McCroy to help create state-wide professional development and state-wide lesson plans and resources.  In accordance with this project I will be conducting an action research plan to see how providing direct instruction in the areas of social skills helps children with autism.

3. What is the purpose of the study?  The purpose of the study is to see if direct instruction in social skills helps peer relations in students with autism

4. Who are the participants?  The participants in this study are five students with autism, four boys and one girl who receive direct instruction in the area of social skills in a minimum of two days a week. These five students range from 10-12 years old.

5. What are the variables?  The independent variable in this study is direct instruction in the area of social skills. The dependent variable in this subject is peer relations in students with autism.

6. What are the research questions we are looking to define?  What defines direct instruction in social skills?  How do you measure social skills?  What defines appropriate peer relations?

7. Innovations or change to implement  In this study I have chosen five students who are identified as having high functioning autism who need direct instruction as per their IEP. I will give rating scales to the teacher to see how they interact with their peers and they will all have a goal to initiate or interact with their peers in social settings within the school day (lunch, playground, specials, etc). By the end of this study, I would like to have all of them meet this goal or be making progress towards mastery

8. Data collection and data analysis  The students have already been identified and they will be receiving direct instruction using Jed Baker’s social skills curriculum. I will give them rating scales to fill out in the beginning and at the end. I will also give these same rating scales to their teachers. Twice a week I will go into the class and use prompts to use these instructional strategies. Throughout the study I will lessen the prompts to see if the students are using what they are learning in social settings. I will continue to observe these students. I will ask them who their preferred peers are and observe these relationships closely. I will create a graph to see how many times they initiate and interact with their peers in social settings to see the effectiveness of the direct instruction.

9. Time line  August-September: Look over IEPs for students who have an identified need for social skills, conduct rating scales  October-December: Teach direct social skills, look for social skills in inclusive settings, provide prompting when needed  January-February: meet with teachers, analyze and interpret data  March-April: write up findings and conclusions  May-June: share study and findings

10. Questions?