撰文:協康會教育心理學家團隊

 自閉症幼兒的智能及言語能力達 5 6 歲,又應看甚麼書呢?家長與孩子閱讀時又有甚麼技巧呢?

 高智能的自閉症幼兒應該能明白簡單德育故事,家長可參照「社交故事」形式讓自閉症孩子有效理解內容。當孩子對故事內容熟悉了,家長可把主角換成其他真實人物,或是換成孩子自己,好讓孩子慢慢把自己代入德育故事的情景中。故事角色可以變,那麼故事情節也可以有少許改變:例如「婆婆家」可改作「姨姨家」,讓孩子靈活運用所學到的。當然,角色及情節的改變,需要在兒童未發展出對故事細節的頑固之前。至於常用抽象比喻的寓言、童話和神話故事,需待自閉症兒童有能力把知識廣泛化時才可以使用。

 在認知方面,當孩子理解能力達到一定水平時,家長可在故事中強調情緒字眼,例如「見到狗,美美很害怕。」當兒童適合學習先後概念時,可強調時間的描述,例如「美美做錯事,之後,說對不起。」因應孩子程度,家長可善用故事書的每一頁,加插或用語氣強調適用的字眼。

Written by: The Educational Psychologist Team of the Heep Hong Society

 For young children with autism who have intellectual and language abilities at the 5-6 year old level, what kind of books should they read? What techniques should parents use when reading with their children?

 Young children with high-functioning autism should be able to understand simple moral stories. Parents can refer to the “social story” format to help children with autism effectively understand the content. When the child is familiar with the story content, parents can replace the main character with other real people, or even the child themselves, so that the child can gradually put themselves into the moral story scenario. The story characters can be changed, and the story plot can also be slightly altered: for example, “grandma’s house” can be changed to “aunt’s house”, allowing the child to flexibly apply what they have learned. Of course, changes to the characters and plot should be made before the child develops rigidity towards the story details. As for fables, fairy tales and mythological stories that commonly use abstract metaphors, they can be used only when the child with autism has the ability to generalize their knowledge.

 In terms of cognition, when the child’s comprehension reaches a certain level, parents can emphasize emotional words in the story, such as “When she saw the dog, Mei Mei was very scared.” When the child is ready to learn the concept of sequence, parents can emphasize the description of time, such as “Mei Mei did something wrong, and then she said she was sorry.” Based on the child’s level, parents can utilize each page of the storybook, adding or emphasizing appropriate words.

在親子交流方面,能力較高的自閉症兒童,可與家長輪流一人一句地講故事,此方法既可訓練孩子接續故事和專心聽別人說話的能力之外,又可讓孩子在參與過程中,加深對故事的印象。家長靈活運用故事書,能夠滿足孩子發展需要和促進親子交流。自閉症孩子常常缺乏假想能力,隨書附送角色娃娃的故事書便大派用場:起初只說故事,後來加入娃娃,然後再逐步減少使用故事書,最後只以娃娃來講故事,並使用「你一句、我一句」的方法,帶孩子走出故事書,慢慢進入假想遊戲的世界。

在社交認知方面,使用漫畫的家長,可用塗改液把人物的「對話泡泡」塗白,然後與孩子一起創作新對話。起初可先塗改某些字詞,當雙方熟習方法後,便可塗改更多部分,直至所有對話都是自創的。勇於嘗試的家長,更可試為孩子度身製作故事書及設計不同的講故事方法,吸引孩子學習所需的社交概念。

 

 

In terms of parent-child interaction, for children with autism who have higher abilities, they can take turns with their parents to tell the story, one sentence at a time. This method not only trains the child’s ability to continue the story and focus on listening to others, but also allows the child to deepen their impression of the story through active participation. By using storybooks flexibly, parents can meet the developmental needs of the child and promote parent-child interaction. Children with autism often lack imaginative ability, so storybooks that come with character dolls can be very useful: initially, just tell the story, then add the dolls, and gradually reduce the use of the storybook, until finally using only the dolls to tell the story, and using the “one sentence for you, one sentence for me” method to guide the child out of the storybook and into the world of imaginative play.

In terms of social cognition, parents who use comics can use correction fluid to white out the “speech bubbles” of the characters, then work with the child to create new dialogues. Initially, they can modify certain words or phrases, and when both parties are familiar with the method, they can modify more parts, until all the dialogues are self-created. Daring parents can even try to custom-make storybooks for their child and design different ways of storytelling to attract the child to learn the social concepts they need.