When an individual is diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders, they show skill deficits in social interactions. Below is the DSM-5 overview of the kinds of social deficits an individual with ASD may encompass:

“Social interaction and communication problems: including difficulties in normal back-and-forth conversation, reduced sharing of interests or emotions, challenges in understanding or responding to social cues such as eye contact and facial expressions, deficits in developing/maintaining/understanding relationships, and others.

Difficulty relating to people, things and events: including trouble making friends and interacting with people, difficulty reading facial expressions and not making eye contact.”

https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/autism/what-is-autism-spectrum-disorder

Social skills are important in everyday life. We socially interact at school, with friends, at home, at jobs, etc. When we talk to people we use eye contact, we express emotions throughout the day, we identify peoples facial reactions, we use social ques in order to understand the conversation or situation around us and most importantly we use social skills to build relationships with other individuals.

There are many different approaches on treatment for individuals diagnosed with ASD and one technique is center-based social skills. As social skill deficits being one of the diagnostic criteria for ASD, it is important for individuals to have access not only to home services but also to community and group settings where these skills can be targeted. At home, social skills can be taught with family members which then can be generalized to a social skills group or in the community. Individuals who attend center services will have access to other peers their age where they can target common social skills as a group. Our Center-based ABA services at Key Connections in Chelmsford MA, can be the avenue for an individual to learn and obtain socially acceptable skills in order to be successful in their community.