The Case of "Henry Smith:" Part Three

Henry is a unique, interesting, warm, and very appealing young man. Henry has many strengths and unfortunately many debilitating deficits. Henry is considered to be at the very far “end” of the autism spectrum. Henry has advanced vocabulary, is capable of carrying on reciprocal conversation, has knowledge in a variety of areas, and is often charming and eloquent.  Despite these strengths, he remains highly inflexible on both cognitive and emotional levels and is lacking in the type of social motivation needed to engage in new discoveries that would enhance his social development.

Parent Goals

1)      Henry’s parents will continue to support his ability to accurately read and react to nonverbal communication by expanding and amplifying their use of nonverbal communication in the home.

2)      Henry’s parents will continue to support his ability to identify appropriate peers for recreational outings.

3)      Henry’s parents will continue to support his ability to plan outings that take into account the needs and preferences of peers.

4)      Henry’s parents will continue to support his ability to utilize a telephone or a computer to contact peers for the purpose of initiating recreational outings.

5)      Henry’s parents will continue to decrease his access to objects and activities of special interest in order to further his level of community integration.

6)      Henry’s parents will continue to support him in learning how to observe group dynamics in community settings so that he may improve his capacity to join groups of peers.

7)      Henry’s parents will continue to modify his home environment to minimize distractions from objects and activities of special interest in order to improve his capacity for joint attention and social referencing.

Goals for Henry:

1)      Henry will improve his capacity to maintain conversations initiated by his peers by making relevant comments and asking relevant questions..

2)      Henry will continue to improve his capacity to visually reference peers when engaged in conversations in order to track their needs and interests.

3)      Henry will continue to improve his ability to engage in a dynamic reciprocal communication rather than in monologues/lectures.

4)      Henry will improve his ability to track nonverbal communication, particularly facial expressions, gestures, and prosody.

5)      Henry will improve his capacity to identify appropriate peers for recreational outings.

6)      Henry will improve his capacity to plan and initiate recreational outings with peers from group or from school.

7)      Henry will improve his ability to contact appropriate peers for recreational outings.

8)      Henry will improve his capacity to develop recreational plans that take into account the needs, preferences, and interests of a partner.

9)      Henry will increase his overall range of recreational interests which, in turn, will increase his level of community integration.

 

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