teach targeted skills. For us, development of the FOUNDATION, born of a desire to understand the essence of what it means to be “engaged” with another person, has been one of the most enlightening aspects of this work.
Annie will help you get to know “ENGAGEMENT” ...
At four-years-old, Annie is most soothed when sitting straight backed, legs extended out while rocking forward and backward in a rhythmical pattern. Annie was diagnosed with ASD at 18 months. She has no verbal communication and uses simple gestures and vocalizations to get her needs met. She loves cylindrical items such as straws, hoses, tubes, and pipes. She enjoys being outside, playing in water, and looking at shiny silver items. Her parents work hard to find items of interest and play that keep her in “their world.”
ENGAGEMENT
Self-Regulation: Calm + Alert = READY
Everyone can think of a time when they have not been “ready” to engage in social interaction. Perhaps you had a hard day at work and just want to close the door in a quiet room. Maybe you are worried about a loved one and therefore not able to focus on other people in your life or just feel overwhelmed. Self-regulation can be considered the ability to gain control of one’s emotions and body to maintain and sustain attention for the task at hand, at all stages of our lives (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000; Gillespie & Seibel, 2006). This task may be school work, running a business, or just “being social.” We think of self-regulation as being in an emotional and physical place to learn and respond positively to each situation. One needs to be able to be calm and at the same time alert enough to focus on another person and share experiences together (Kalberg, Laurel & Taylor, 2013; Williams & Shellenberger, 1996).
A key tenet of this model is that without self-regulation, there can be no ENGAGEMENT and without ENGAGEMENT there is no climbing the “social steps.” It becomes crucial then to understand the signs that an individual is READY and to have ideas about how to help him or her get ready for ENGAGEMENT, both at the beginning stages of learning and at any other moment of dysregulation.
Annie is self-regulated and READY to engage for about half of her pre-school day. At home, Annie has more options to help her regulate and less need to be on a specific schedule; therefore, she is regulated a bit more of the time. When regulated, Annie looks toward people with interest yet often does not make eye contact. Her body is calm and she appears to be aware of where she is and how she is moving through space. At these moments, Annie is in control of her emotions, not too frustrated, mad or sad, and not too happy. She might be making noises and moving rhythmically; this appears to help her maintain her regulated state. This is what self-regulation looks like for Annie and when she is in her best place to engage.
It is helpful to consider what types of sensory input (tactile/touch, auditory/sound, visual/sight, olfactory/smell, gustatory/taste, vestibular/movement, proprioception/position) can support an individual’s self-regulation and what type of input can help a person remain regulated throughout a social interaction (Laurel & Williams, 2014; Williams & Shellenberger, 1996). Ayres (1979) stated, “When the whole body and all of the senses work together as a whole, adaption and learning are easy for the brain” (p. 37). More than 30 years later, discussing young children with ASD, Tomchek, Little, and Dunn (2015) stated, “Children’s sensory processing patterns affect a child’s ability to sustain active engagement in activities that provide social communication opportunities” (p. 6). Clearly, being READY is critical to learning any skill, including “being social.”
Questions to consider when trying to help an individual maintain self-regulation include:
What type of sensory input is coming into a person’s system in this particular social environment?
Does there seem to be too much input or too little input?
Is there a way to adapt or modify the type of input coming in?
What type of sensory input is the person seeking?
Does that sensory input support the person to be calm, alert, and READY?
ONLY when self-regulated can one begin to share space to pursue a positive social interaction.
ENGAGEMENT
Shared Space: A Place to Be Together
This component of the FOUNDATION is defined as being in proximity to another person. As we grow and develop our social skills, we can “share space” over longer distances and even remotely, for example, by phone or text. However, for the purposes of our discussion, it is critical that we begin by thinking about an individual’s ability to be close to a communication partner, often within less than five feet. New learners need to be close enough to understand how to share focus and pleasure. Being aware of the space between ourselves and the person we are hoping to engage is extremely important (Richter & Oetter, 1990).
Guiding questions as you begin to think about places to share space include:
In what settings is this person comfortable?
What proximity to others does this person currently prefer?
How can you visually define the space to help this person understand what is expected?
How will you limit or organize materials within the space to encourage ENGAGEMENT?
Within a shared space, we can begin to be attentive together.
When Annie is regulated, the space she is comfortable sharing is quite close, often within three feet. She seems to notice objects in her peripheral field, but she responds best to other people who seek ENGAGEMENT when they are visually in front of her. During facilitated social interactions, Annie needs three-dimensional boundaries, with the space visually defined using furniture, walls, or people’s bodies. Success requires carefully timing the entrance and exit into and out of this space, which continues to be in the three- to five-foot radius. Limiting the materials of interest in this space and using materials with a definite purpose appear to support Annie to share the space, at moments when she is regulated, for more and more of her pre-school day and at home. Her skilled partner must share in Annie’s space and then present a highly motivating item for shared focus to support ENGAGEMENT.
ENGAGEMENT
Shared Focus: A Reason to Be Together
Shared focus is defined simply as two people paying attention to the same thing at the same time. Initially, we work to understand the interests of individuals with ASD and to promote shared focus using items and activities that excite them as they do the hard work of being together. Perhaps you did not imagine engaging quite so much about dinosaurs, cars, or even coat hangers or plumbing! However, we understand how crucial it is to reinforce the beginning steps of sharing these interests with another person.
