School districts are starting to involve school social workers to lessen the educational and developmental issues that are facing children today. The purpose of a school social worker is to act as a link between students, families, and the community’s social services. Social workers for the school district also work with student on the spectrum. When social workers work with students with autism, they tend to not only act as a link between students and families, but also focus on teaching appropriate social behaviors.
For students on the autism spectrum, a social worker will specifically work on social awareness, learning social cues, and how to deal appropriately with feelings. The social worker will create goals for the child’s Individualized Education Plan (IEP). The goals and objectives are to help the student work on specific areas of concern so that they can grow and make progress in appropriate social development.
A school social worker will also help in facilitating a functional behavior assessment. A functional behavior assessment (FBA) is when the social worker comes into the classroom and observes how often a child is exhibiting the inappropriate behavior. The FBA allows for the social worker to then determine what the possible cause for the behavior is and then provide interventions to aid in correcting the undesired behavior. The official plan for correcting the behavior is called a behavior intervention plan (BIP). The BIP is then attached to the child’s IEP.
Another way in which a social worker helps children with ASD is through the use of social stories. A social worker will write a social story on a particular situation to help modify or change an inappropriate behavior. Social stories are as different as the individuals that use them. It depends on the reading abilities of the child. A social story can be written using word and/or pictures. For a child on the spectrum with a high reading ability, the social story can be written in words with or without the use of pictures.
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