Laura Sprunk

LTM 631

Teaching Social Awareness to Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism and Aspergers Syndrome are diagnosable disabilities
recognized by IDEA under the pervasive developmental disorder umbrella.
Students have to meet many criteria in order to be diagnosed. Many of these
students exhibit social and behavioral deficits and with the number of
individuals receiving services for Autism Spectrum Disorders having
increased nearly 10x between 1994 and 2006. (Vaughn, Bos & Schumm, 2013)
it is important to have strategies for helping the students learn appropriate
social behaviors.
Students with these diagnoses typically have difficulty interpreting
social cues including facial expressions and seeing the world from a
perspective that is not their own. They may have outbursts that prevent
relationships from forming or they might talk at people instead of to or with
people. Schools can help these students learn appropriate behaviors.
One strategy for helping students understand their behaviors is using
social stories. Social Stories are a concept devised by Carol Gray in 1991 to
improve the social skills of people with autism spectrum
disorders (ASD).Social stories are used to educate and as praise. Social
stories model appropriate social interaction by describing a situation with
relevant social cues, other's perspectives, and a suggested appropriate
response (Gray, 2000). Social stories are contextual and relevant for the
students who use them. Social stories can be useful in addressing a large
number of social skills. They can be written by the teacher or the student

Laura Sprunk
LTM 631

with the teachers help. The stories provide important information to the
student, which they can use in situations that may cause difficulty because
of a lack of social awareness.
Social stories can be used to describe a classroom routine, including
variations to that routine. An example could be the description of class rules
in regard to asking the teacher for information in an appropriate manner. The
stories should always be written with a positive angle regarding the students
behavior.
When social stories are not enough to help a student see when their
behavior is escalating, a social scale can be used. One such scale is called
the Incredible 5-Point Scale. This scale was introduced in 2003 as a way to
teach social understanding to students with ASD. The scale aims to teach
social and emotional awareness in a concrete and positive way. It was
developed by Kari Dunn Buron and Mitzi Curtis and has roots is the theory of
the empathizing-systemizing theory of Simon Baron-Cohen. This theory puts
forward that people with ASD have a strong desire to analyze information to
determine what causes something. Utilizing a system to present difficult
information then lends itself to analyzing by these people. Some difficult
concepts or situations that have been improved by using this scale include
voice volume, personal distance, what is fair, anger and classroom rules.
Development of this scale can be done by the teacher but it is
recommended to obtain input from the student if it is appropriate. The first
step to using this scale is to determine the problem. What behavior is the

Laura Sprunk
LTM 631

person doing or not doing? What social situation is causing the confusion for
the person? Once the root cause is identified, identify the skill or concept
that needs to be taught in order to improve. Then, break this skill or concept
into 5 parts making number 1 the smallest and 5 the largest. Use faces or
drawings and colors to show escalation; the suggested colors from 1 to 5 are
green, blue, yellow, orange, and red. Identify what these behaviors look,
sound, or feel like and add these things to the chart. Also write in
suggestions of what the student could try to try to address the situation. Use
a story or video to introduce the scale and how to use it. Once the scale has
been introduced, review the scale with the student prior to known difficult
times. Create a portable scale for the person to carry as a reminder.
There are some details about the development of this scale that will
help you get the maximum impact. Note that when you are breaking the
concept into pieces to avoid the words good and bad to identify the
extremes, as they are judging words and will hinder the focus on positive
behavior. Also, there is no magic number of parts to this scale. Some
behaviors or concepts can be easily broken into just 3 steps and some
require more than 5. It is suggested though, that if you use 3 steps to use
the corresponding visual clues from steps 1, 3, and 5. This will allow you to
easily add in the details of 2 and 4 later, if you need them or the scale is
being adapted for another behavior. This process eliminates confusion when
a 3 on one scale suddenly looks like a 5 on another. Finally, this to maximize
the benefits, this scale should be used consistently between teachers and

Laura Sprunk
LTM 631

staff at school and at home. It cannot just be created and hung on wall and
be expected to work.
Consider the following examples of situations where the scales are
already in use.
Scenario #1
A male student, age 6, was recently diagnosed with Aspergers syndrome. His
vocabulary skills and life skills are similar to those of his peers. He struggles with
appropriate behaviors and independent learning. One of the behaviors he
demonstrates is getting too close to others, specifically putting his face too close.
He is working on this behavior with the help of a social story that talks about when
it is ok to be close, snuggling with mom at home on the couch, and when it is not,
putting my face right in front of the teachers at school. He also has difficulty
controlling himself if he thinks something is wrong or unfair. Since he is fully
included and has 23 other students in his class, this behavior can frequently be
seen when the teacher is helping other students one on one. To help him through
this behavior, he uses a 5 point scale.
When he is at a 1, he should keep on working. Teachers that work with him
will occasionally give him compliments on how hard he is working. At a 2, he begins
to feel like it isnt fair that the teacher is not with him, so if he shouts out or
demands attention the teacher reminds him that he can try to raise his hand. This is
done orally or by pointing to the 2 on his scale depending on what is going on in the
classroom. Once he raises his hand, the teacher will go over to help him and then
remind him to keep working and that she will be back to check on him. If he
continues to become upset, he moves to a 3 and he can try to walk up to the
teacher and ask for help politely. If his frustration continues to escalate, he will
begin to shake his hands near his head and he shouts out in an outside voice. This
is a level 4 and the teacher will ask him where on the scale he thinks he is and if he
needs to have if he needs some cool down time. He can take this time in a cozy
place in the classroom. He rarely identifies himself as a 5, which is out of control. If
he does reach a 5, he goes to the special education room and has physical activities
that he can do to calm himself down.
This scale is working well for him with some help from his teachers. The
special education teacher plans to use this scale all year with him to help him meet
his IEP goals that have to do with social behaviors.

Scenario #2
A female student, age 7, and in first grade, has no current diagnosis but has
been referred to begin the process of qualification. She struggles with controlling
herself and her anger when she wants to go home. She is functioning near or at
benchmark for her grade in most content areas and has social skills that are close to

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LTM 631
her peers. A 3 point scale has been developed to help her not tantrum when she
wants to go home.
Her three point scale shows a 1 as being very good. At this stage she is
cooperative and on task. When she appears to be getting upset, we ask what she
would rate herself. If she says a 2, then she has the choice to get a drink of water,
take a walk, or use her alone box in the office to calm down. Her alone box has
several sensory items in it that she may use such as Gak (similar to play-doh,
though more sticky) or a nubby ball (a small ball with rubber nubs on it.) When she
is using the alone box, we should not engage her in conversation.
If her tantrum escalates and becomes a 3, which is out of control, we are to
call the office immediately and our secretary has a team of people on call to help.
This includes the principal, the special education teacher, the school psychologist,
or our police liaison officer. If she is not harming herself or anyone else, we are to
stay close but ignore her. If she hits or kicks we are to escort her to the office, but
only under her own power. If she will not go, we must stay and ignore her.
Her scale, and in particular, her ability to identify when she is a 2 is
progressing. She has learned in the 4 weeks that she has been using the scale that
once she identifies herself as a two, that she can calm herself quicker when using
the alone box. This has significantly decreased the amount of level three
outbursts she has.

The goal of the 5-point scale is to teach social and emotional

awareness that is often lacking in individuals with ASD (Buron & Curtis,
2012). Once the scale for the particular behavior has been learned, the scale
can easily be adapted for other behaviors or situations. It becomes a
predictable way for learning difficult concepts. Students with ASD who have
successfully used this scale are now more equipped to handle situations in
which they previously would have had difficulty. As with all students, you will
need to find what works for him or her. The consistency, concrete
representations, and adaptability of this 5-point scale make it a good tool to
try for students.

Laura Sprunk
LTM 631

Laura Sprunk
LTM 631

Resources:
Gray, C. (2000) The New Social Story Book: Illustrated Edition Future Horizons
O'Reilly, B. & Smith, S. (2008) Australian Autism Handbook. The essential resource guide
for autism spectrum disorders. Sydney, Australia: Jane Curry Publishing

Buron, K. D., & Curtis, M. (2012). The incredible 5-point scale. Shawnee Mission, KS:
AAPC Publishing.
Vaughn, S., Bos, C., & Schumm, J. (2013). Teaching students who are exceptional,
diverse, and at risk in the general education classroom. (6th ed.). Boston: Pearson.