Social Skills Activities for Kids: 50 Fun Exercises for Making Friends, Talking and Listening, and Understanding Social Rules Paperback – 26 April 2019

I have a nine year old autistic son who told me he wanted to work harder on his social skills this year so we bought hit his book. Not all of the activities are relevant, but the ones that were have proved extremely helpful and he’s remembered a lot of the things we’ve discussed from the book. Most notably the concept of a conversation being like passing a ball back and forth and you can’t hog the ball - he said it’s made him realise he takes most of the conversation and doesn’t always listen and is trying to include his friends more. It’s not something I’d push on a child unless they wanted it, though, as I think this book would be rendered useless on someone who didn’t see value in improving these skills first.

I bought this for my daughter (later diagnosed ASD) when she was in yr 5, and she loved doing the exercises with me. She will still refer back to it every now and again (now 12). I have a number of autism books, and this is the only one i feel that really gets it right. highly recommend!

I am parent of a 9 year old boy with ASD. I bought this to see if it would help him as he has social issues. I’ve read through the book and we are now part way through the activities. I also have a 5yr old girl and she has joined in too. I think my son is probably two years behind his peers mentally and emotionally, his social skills are not too bad although they definitely need refining and I think this book will do just the job. Page 80 discusses how sensitive you are and there is a little quiz. My son is very sensitive and always thinks peers are ganging up against him or picking on him. This book has situations in it and your child has to choose what they would do in these situations which then raises a discussion between you and your child. It’s written as though the author is talking to a child, gives little verbal high fives and tells them to remember how awesome they are. It also tells you to cross out all the negatives and focus on the positive sides of yourself (the child). I personally think it’s a great book and I can see my child has taken in the information and retained it. Does it stop him from doing things that are socially unacceptable? No. But when I ask him should he have done that, he replies no, and when I ask him what he should have done he knows the answer- one day he will think before he acts. I would recommend this to other parents of children with ASD.

Brilliant book! I bought it to inspire small group work with SEND children in my class. It’s worked a treat. Unlike books designed for educational purposes it’s not something you can immediately lift for use in class, but with a bit of preparation we have used the scripts and scenarios for role play and discussed the ideas and strategies. They children have really enjoyed and valued the things they’ve learned. A very modern, holistic approach to learning and improving social skills. I’d give it six stars!

So enjoyable, when children have to move to different schools, making new friends can be challenging, but this book is there to help.

I have only just started using this but it seems good and helps with aspects that people who have good skills don't think about

Nothing to say

Younger than I expected but ok