Children with autism often have a delay in, or a total lack of, spoken language (DeVilliers, 2008). In addition, social impairments can manifest themselves through a lack of eye contact and a lack of social and emotional exchange. It is evident that there is a key communication barrier between Sam and others caused by a lack of ability to interpret emotions and read social messages. Consequently, his responses to social situations are often misinterpreted, as these behaviours do not match the expectations of the recipient. Sam has developed language and vocabulary appropriate to his age, and has achieved creditable results in all other areas of literacy. Despite appropriate grammar and vocabulary development, his ability to initiate and maintain conversations with others is impaired.

Many different skills are needed to engage in a successful conversation including initiation, turn taking, listening, maintaining a conversation topic and terminating a conversation appropriately (Rutter & Schopler, 1987). Sam struggles in most elements of conversation, particularly initiating conversation. In social settings at school (e.g. the playground), Sam lacks the ability to approach his peers in a suitable manner to instigate conversation or request to partake in their activity. If Sam can see his peers engaging in an activity that he would like to join, he will often snatch the equipment from a child’s hand and begin playing, neglecting any form of prior communication. Subsequently, Sam’s peers can become upset or frustrated with him, hindering his ability to form social relationships. In addition, Sam finds it difficult to interpret the emotions or social messages inferred by his peers. This has a further affect on his ability to initiate and maintain conversation. 

Teaching social skills such as initiating conversation is an ever-evolving process of behavioural treatment (Pierce & Schreibman, 1995). After identifying the elements of the conversation skills that need to be addressed, education stakeholders can work collaboratively to create strategies to improve these skills. Because Sam’s language and vocabulary development is appropriate for his age group, the strategy to address this issue focuses more on Sam’s social behaviour.

Frandsen (2011) asserts that puppets and visual illustrations are an effective strategy to practice symbolic play, which can help bring children with ASD who think concretely into the world of abstract concepts and ideas.  Symbolic play with puppets can take learning a step further by enabling children to take part in hypothetical scenarios to help them to understand how the world works.

The artefact consists of a number of laminated figures glued onto paddle pop sticks. The puppets are animated images of a young boy and his three friends together with four settings including the tuck shop, the playground, the oval, and outside the classroom. Sam uses these figures with his teacher to develop role-plays of the different behaviours he should use in social settings. The teacher is able to provide Sam with a detailed overview of how to approach friends in the playground, how he should initiate communication, and how he should respond to different comments in a visual format.

This technique is implemented into Sam’s daily practice, before school and each lunch break. As he continues to develop skills in initiating conversation by using appropriate language and social behaviour, the role-play process will only occur once a week until independent practice is achieved. The symbolic play assists Sam to engage in mock conversations in a range of scenarios that are relevant to his behaviour. Through the puppet technique, Sam can also develop the appropriate vocabulary needed to initiate and maintain a conversation with his peers.