Table 3.

Growing, Learning, and Living With Autism Group core strategies and concepts.

Strategy/concept	Definition
Self-regulation
Zones of regulation	Using concrete terminology and visuals (colors) to make abstract emotion identification and regulation concepts comprehensible to young children
Stress balls	Releasing negative feelings and energy by squeezing a ball
Deep breathing	Visual support for diaphragmatic breathing
Progressive relaxation	Step-by-step visual exercise to tense and relax each body part to release tension.
Chair yoga	Six simple yoga poses with visual instructions (adapted from Living Words of Wisdom, 2014)
Drawing/journaling	A method of expressing thoughts/feelings/experiences through writing and drawing
Visualization	Using positive imagery to shift thoughts from negative to positive. Thought bubbles held above a child's head used as visual supports (see Hendrix et al., 2013, p. 50) to encourage “thinking a happy thought”
Social communication
Expected vs. unexpected behaviors	Concrete terminology to describe behaviors that give others comfortable/uncomfortable thoughts in various social scenarios (Palmer et al., 2016, pp. 33–60)
The group plan	Terminology to describe the benefits of working on what the group is doing rather than following “your own plan” (Hendrix et al., 2013, pp. 71–88)
Thinking with your eyes	Method of describing the social information conveyed by social eye gaze shifts, using the visual support of arrows to indicate that “eyes are like arrows” and how kids can use this information to learn about what others are thinking (Hendrix et al., 2013, pp. 89–108)
SENSE	Nonverbal conversation skills—space, eye contact, nodding (gestures), statements, and expressions (McAfee, 2002, pp. 102–108)
Body in the group	Method of teaching the physical boundaries of group participation (Hendrix et al., 2013, pp. 109–124)
Whole body listening	Children learn to identify all of the clues their bodies provide to show they are listening (Hendrix et al., 2013, pp. 125–142)
Social narratives	Writing personal narratives from the child's perspective about behavioral expectations in a particular setting (taught only in parent breakout sessions)
Structured TEACCHing
Pause cards	Visual reminder to pause an activity and come back to it later
Visual countdowns	Physically removing numbers from a countdown to demonstrate when a transition is approaching
Schedules/checklists	Use of schedules and activity checklists to inform children about what is expected now, when it will be finished, and what is coming in the future