Our latest award winner is Dr. Jed Baker, the director of the Social Skills Training Project. He is on the professional advisory board of Autism Today, ASPEN, ANSWER, YAI, the Kelberman Center, and several other autism organizations. In addition, he writes, lectures, and provides training internationally on the topics of social skills training and managing challenging behaviors. His work has also been featured on ABC World News, Nightline, Fox News, The CBS Early Show, and the Discovery Health Channel.
He has been awarded the Counselor’s Choice Award for his therapy skill book: The Social Skills Picture Book: For High School and Beyond. This gives an instructional view of how to understand social cues through: Body language, conversation, maintaining relationships, and school/work settings. It is definitely not a complete picture book, it does help with some of the more nuanced pieces of communication that can be otherwise lost. Being 200 pages, it also allows clinicians to better understand how to practice the social skills in a clinical setting.
This picture book appeals to the visual strengths of students on the autism spectrum, with color photos of students demonstrating various social skills in the correct (and sometimes incorrect) way. The skills depicted are meant to be read, role-played, corrected when necessary, role-played some more and, finally, to be practiced by the student in real-life social situations. “Thought bubbles” show what people are thinking during these interactions (not always what you hoped!). Practical, engaging, and down-to-earth, this is a valuable tool to help teens navigate the often-mysterious rules of social conduct in everyday situations.
Thank you, Dr. Jed Baker, for this clever tool.