Teaching children with the skills they need to be able to effectively interact socially is already in itself quite a challenging feat. What proves to be even more challenging is teaching this skill to homeschooled children who are identified to be on the autism spectrum. Thus, here are some tips on how to effectively teach a homeschooler with autism the social skills he needs to be able to effectively interact with other children.

Develop a common language
It is important to develop a common language with your child, especially when you are working with him in developing his social skills. This is because most children with autism already struggle with their communication skills which is why it is necessary that you consider how your child communicate better. Perhaps it is through pictures or a sign language and if so, you can use this communication style when you teach them specific social vocabulary.

Try telling social stories
A social story is a type of story that aims to narrate real world situations and challenges, along with possible solutions on how to deal with them in an illustrative manner. This is proven to be an effective tool for children with autism to manage unfamiliar social events. There are several social story examples now made available online, but there are also several templates which can help you create your own social story that will be more relatable to your little one. Just bear in mind that the story should have a specific goal that targets a desired behavior and that it uses positive language and encouraging words.

Practice some social skills on a daily basis
Social skills are best learned when they are put into practice. Thereby, spend a few minutes of your time each day to practice these social skills, even if this entails the need for you to revamp your daily curriculum a little bit. For instance, you can your child can do coloring activities on one day and working on recognizing the alphabet on another. You can even play a card game or other games on some other days.     

Be consistent
In teaching children any skill, it is important to be consistent. You will be able to accomplish more if you keep practicing with your child on a daily basis. Your learning sessions will even be more effective if you make it fun like playing a game to practice a new social vocabulary they have learned or coloring and drawing if this is what they enjoy the most. The key thing is that you want them to enjoy the process of learning, rather than dreading or fearing it.

To wrap things up, teaching homeschooled children with autism the social skills they need to be able to interact with others is indeed challenging. Nevertheless, there are several strategies and techniques that you can try to do so. Just keep in mind that different children have different learning curves and what may seem as effortless for one child may prove to be quite difficult to comprehend for another.

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James is dad of 3 kids and is a keen writer covering a range of topics such as Internet marketing, SEO and more! When not writing, he's found behind a drum kit.