The role of families in supporting social inclusion 149classmates. When they raised this issue with Mrs. Clamsy, Rosie’s classroom
teacher, she indicated that Rosie was also alone during breaks. As she spent
most of this time reading her favourite books, and given she was not being
bullied, Mrs. Clamsy did not see any issue with the situation. Rosie’s par-
ents however disagreed, and raised their concerns about Rosie not having
friends, as well as their frustrations with Rosie’s lack of inclusion. Mrs. Clamsy
and Rosie’s parents agreed that this issue should be discussed at Rosie’s next
Individualised Educational Plan (IEP) meeting. Prior to the meeting, Rosie pre-
pared a PowerPoint presentation, highlighting her thoughts on the issue. She
expressed that she feels lonely at school, and wished to have friends she could
spend time with. She however did not feel comfortable about some expres-
sions of friendship that she observed in her classrooms, such as girls greeting
each other with a hug, or sharing lunch by biting into each other’s sand-
wiches, which Rosie found highly unhygienic.
At the IEP meeting, Rosie, her parents, Mrs. Clamsy, and Rosie’s speech thera-
pist discussed ways in which Rosie could be more socially included. Given her
struggles with small talk, her speech therapist prepared a set of social scripts,
which were to be practiced both at her speech therapy sessions and at home
with her parents. Mrs. Clamsy suggested that Rosie could participate in a new
extracurricular activity introduced in the school, a biology club, which would
allow her to meet peers with similar interests. Rosie was very excited about this
proposition, however also a bit concerned about how she would be accepted
in the biology club. She asked Mrs. Clamsy about students attending. Rosie’s
mother realised, when hearing the students’ names, that she knew the mother
of one of these students well, and decided to talk to her to encourage her
daughter’s acceptance and involvement with Rosie.
Mrs. Clamsy also promised to utilise group work in classes as well as peer
tutoring to encourage other students to engage with Rosie. Rosie’s speech
therapist recommended that Rosie use the QuickCues™ mobile app at home.
She explained to Rosie and her parents that this was a social script application
designed to support teenagers with Autism in learning the social skills related
to communication and life skills. She also suggested the Social Skills Builder™
app, which consisted of real life situations in different settings, including high
school and the community.
Following the IEP meeting, Rosie practised the initial interactions she might
have at the biology club at home as well as at the sessions with her speech
therapist. Her mother also met with the mother of Amy, a girl who attended
the biology club. They arranged a weekend visit at Rosie’s place to intro-
duce the girls. Later on Amy introduced Rosie to the biology club, and as she
was well-liked among her peers, Rosie became actively involved in this new
social network. Rosie also tried both apps suggested by her speech therapist.
(continued)