As I write my blog for this month, I am reflecting on  (and laughing at) my experience today at Chick-fil-A with the boys. We go on community outings weekly and today we decided to do a quick shopping trip and then lunch. As George was stimming ever so loudly at the table, I looked at our speech therapist and said, “So the boys have The Autism Helper’s new Social Skills Curriculum and there is an adapted social story on voice volume. Why don’t we start that book tomorrow..? ”

Here are some ways to incorporate social skills into your homeschooling routine.

Some Quick Research

Social skills are an important part of school that some homeschoolers worry that they will miss. Research has shown that homeschooled children are not lacking in social skills and socialization. Richard G. Medlin of Stetson University notes that “Compared to children attending conventional schools, however, research suggests that they [homeschooled students] have higher quality friendships and better relationships with their parents and other adults.”

Ideas For Meeting Other Kids

You can set up play dates on social media, find play groups at church or special needs ministries, or make new friends at the park. It all depends on your comfort level and your child’s. The county where I live has a group on Facebook for all things special needs and people have used it for this. Your child may also prefer the company of adults and that is ok too. We try to reintroduce him to friends, but I do not push him into something he does not need. My younger two enjoy playing with my friends’ children who also have autism. Every child is different.

Social Skills Curriculum

The Autism Helper’s new Social Skills Curriculum is an amazing addition to our homeschool. The boys are learning level one and it is full of visuals to teach concepts that all kids need, such as emotions, turn-taking, personal space, accepting no, and more. The social stories included in the curriculum are also great to use for their reading comprehension assignments.

Social Skills Practice- Games and Learning Toys

Games- There are board games for every skill level and many table or board games now come in your child’s favorite characters. We picked up a Super Mario Brother Uno deck recently! Table games are a great way to reinforce and practice what kids are learning with the curriculum. You can use these games to teach so many skills like sharing and taking turns.

Learning toys: One toy that I recently discovered that I love is Learning Resources Play Restaurant, which is perfect for working on social skills and tying in academics. The play food works on the food vocabulary we learned in Language Arts level 0.5 and 1 so it is perfect for reviewing in a fun way. Money works on lessons from the math curriculum. Now that the Social Skills curriculum is out, we have a fun way to practice what we are learning like turn-taking, voice volume level, and sharing. This toy is also a good role-playing activity to learn how to order food in a comfortable environment so the boys are more comfortable with the concept when we go to a restaurant.

Other great toys that teaches sharing and cooperation are Legos and Duplo. Kids can take turns building something together while learning to share.

Conclusion

Social skills are so important. If I were to pick a curriculum I would recommend as a must-have in your homeschool, this one would be it. Social skills need to be explicitly taught to our learners and this new curriculum is wonderful at helping parents do that. Homeschooling is a lot of fun. I promise you, your kids are not missing out on anything!