Ask the Expert
Building Social Skills
April 29, 2019
Marisa H. Fisher, PhD
Dr. Marisa Fisher
Assistant Professor, Michigan State University |
Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Special Education fishermh@msu.edu |
Ph.D., Vanderbilt University |
Marisa Fisher is an assistant professor of special education, a Board Certified Behavior Analyst-Doctoral (BCBA-D), and the co-director of Spartan Project SEARCH. Her research focuses on understanding and decreasing social vulnerability of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) and supporting the social acceptance of individuals with IDD in the community. She is specifically interested in measuring the various types of victimization experienced by individuals with IDD and on designing interventions to decrease vulnerability. She has studied victimization in the form of child abuse, bullying, stranger danger, and exploitation across the lifespan. She uses the principles of applied behavior analysis and single subject research methods to design interventions to teach self-protection to individuals with IDD.
As the co-director of Spartan Project SEARCH, Dr. Fisher and her students provide support to high school students with IDD who are transitioning from school to work as they participate in internship experiences across the university. Dr. Fisher’s research specific to Spartan Project SEARCH examines behavioral supports necessary to promote success in the work and community environment, the outcomes of participating students, and the impact of the program of attitudes toward and acceptance of individuals with IDD in the workplace
Dr. Fisher is the PI on a project funded by the Institute of Education Sciences' Early Career Development and Mentoring in Special Education Program. This study is designed to better understand the risk factors and consequences of bullying for middle school students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID). Specifically, she is conducting a longitudinal investigation to determine the risk factors (e.g., loneliness, poor social skills, internalizing and externalizing problems) and academic, emotional, and behavioral consequences of bullying for youth with ASD and how these risk factors and outcomes compare to youth with ID and students without disabilities.
I am worried about my child’s social skills- will they ever be up to par?
Response...
Easy answer: I don’t know
Longer answer: Maybe?
My daughter tends to overreact to people who get too close, accidentally tap her, look at her without smiling...anyone talking loud in a group is perceived to her as a fight and she may yell at them. If one of her peers requires space she sees it as a rejection towards her and fixates on that person for months. She does not have any friends to hang around, nor can she hold a job because of her behavior. Aside from this problem she is lovely, fun to be around, independent, very helpful around the house.
Is this behavior typical of WS people? How can we help her understand nobody is out there to get her? How can we help her develop good social skills?
Response...
Zone of Regulation Program
My son is 7th grade and attends a school 3 days a week. He has a mostly great set of kids as his classmates. There are some very nice boys that are accepting of him, but he prefers to spend his lunches and recesses with the girls, who are also nice. We've definitely tried encouraging him to befriend the boys, and he always says he will but just doesn't. Do you have any ideas on this?
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My daughter is living with a roommate in supportive living. She still does not socialize on her own. I still have to set up events for her to be with friends. Does anyone else experience this, and what do you suggest?
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How do you promote understanding of what constitutes a friend and someone that we truly know and trust, versus an acquaintance (ie a shopkeeper) or someone we may have met once?
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My 14-year-old son has difficulty being able to handle little kids (approx. ages 3 to 8) that annoy him. In fact, often little tough-guy boys, or even girls, seem to pick on him when they would never pick on other older kids because they can see he's different in some way. This often happens at gymnastics, and then John doesn't even want to attend because he can't stand the whole thing. The gymnastics coach is helpful when he brings it to her attention, but I think it's about time John gains more life skills in handling these little, repeated issues on his own. Any ideas?
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Do you have a psychiatrist or psychologist that you would recommend? She's been to a few, but none of them seem to be able to "connect" with her at all
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What to do if a school does not use a social skills program already?
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My son's cognitive, comprehension abilities are above his verbal, expressive abilities and as a result it is harder for him to connect and socialize with others. As he does not verbally communicate as well with others, including his WS peers I find he is left out and will either get frustrated that others walk away or isolate himself from what's going on. Any tips or insights on this?
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At the last WS conference, Marisa was planning to develop a curriculum to teach social skills to adults with WS. I'm wondering if/how this project is coming along and when it might be ready to use.
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