Developing Social Skills to Support Neurodiverse Children
(AS, PDA, ODD, ADHD, etc)
✅ 3 Hours, 3 Lessons
✅ Online On-demand Course
✅ Transcript
✅ Certificate of Completion
✅ Handout includes Additional Helpful Tips
✅ Email questions directly to Sue Larkey
✅ 100% Money back – if, after the first two lessons, you decide the course is not for you
✅ IT support
✅ What, How & When to teach Social Skills
✅ Myths & Misunderstanding
✅ How to Make and Keep Friends
✅ Impact of Executive functioning
✅ 4 Steps to Create Social Skills Program
✅ Lived Experience of Social Learning
✅ Creating Inclusive Playground
REVIEWS ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
Developing Social Skills to Support Neurodiverse Children
(AS, PDA, ODD, ADHD, etc)
This on-demand course offers practical strategies for teaching social skills to enhance both student wellbeing and academic performance. You’ll learn what, how, and when to teach, with proven methods to help students building connections in the classroom and the playground.
The course includes valuable insights from lived experiences and provides actionable tips for integrating social skills into your classroom, ensuring students feel supported and empowered.
In this Social Skills training you will learn:
Teach Social Skills for Student Wellbeing
What to Teach, How to Teach, When to Teach: Ideas and Strategies for Teaching Social Skills in your busy classroom.
Boosting Learning Outcomes
Improved Learning Outcomes: Two-thirds of students enhance their performance with the addition of an SEL (Social Emotional Learning) program
A Key to Student Wellbeing
Discover often-overlooked strategies in teaching social skills that can transform your classroom. This insight helps boost student engagement and connections in a neuro-affirming way – something many teachers wish they had known earlier.
Lesson Outline
Lesson 1: Understanding Neorodiverse Learners (50 mins)
- Develop an understanding of how Neurodiverse children learn and socialise differently and why we need to teach social skills to the whole class.
- Executive functioning has a significant impact on social skills, affecting working memory, emotional control, flexibility, self-monitoring, and impulse control.
- How to accommodate – mindblindness and literalness.
- Using four different approaches can be easily incorporated into your classroom practice
- Dean Beadle shares Myths and Misunderstandings about Neurodiverse children’s socialising, and introduces the concept of ‘Social Knowledge’
- Temple Grandin shares how her social challenges are primarily sensory-based for her and what to do.
- What to do to reduce social anxiety/meltdowns. Why many neurodiverse children have social experiences that can be impacted by inflexible thinking and one-track minds – this can lead to social anxiety and meltdowns.
Lesson 2: Communication and Conversation Skills (43 mins)
- Body language, tone of voice, and personal space are crucial social communication elements that need to be taught explicitly and visually. How to do with the whole class and have fun too.
- Children progress through stages of play (solitary → onlooker → parallel → associative → collaborative). How neurodiverse children need support to move beyond solitary play before they can work collaboratively in classrooms.
- We need to teach “social knowledge” – explaining the “why” behind social rules by using social scripts
- Using visual tools like visual volume meters or hand signals to help children understand appropriate loudness levels.
- Personal space varies by context and relationship – children need to understand this “invisible bubble” changes depending on the setting and familiarity.
Lesson 3: Friendships, Playgrounds and Group Work (63 mins)
- The “friendship pyramid” shows progression from basic greetings to close friendship
- Playgrounds can be overwhelming -structured activities like interest-based clubs create “safe harbours”
- Using Social scripts, conversation starters, and visual supports help children navigate social situations.
- Using the “Can I Play Flow” helps children understand what to do when they get told ‘no’ in play situations
- Conversation mapping and visual conversation starters (showing topics of interest for different classmates) help neurodiverse children initiate and maintain conversations.
Master Social Skills with Sue Larkey
Giving Students the Tools to Connect
Master four effective strategies for helping students handle disappointment, loss, and frustration. These methods enhance resilience and emotional balance, contributing to overall wellbeing.
Practical Classroom Tips for Social Skills
Get useful tips for implementing social skills in your classroom. From lesson plans to hands-on activities, you’ll learn actionable steps to support student wellbeing every day.
Insights from Lived Experience
Guided by the lived experiences of individuals with neurodiversity and grounded in evidence-based practices, you will learn how to create inclusive environments through thoughtful accommodations, such as social scripts, visual supports, and structured playground activities, that foster meaningful social connections for all children.
BONUS Resources
What Our Participants Say
“Loved learning different strategies to use with neurodiverse students who are struggling socially. Great games and activities.”
“Brilliant. The stages of development – Play and friendships, strategies and resources.”
“It has helped me gain a better understanding of neurodiverse children and their social needs/challenges. It has helped to explore concrete ways to help these children navigate their social world and hopefully make real friends in ways that are comfortable for them.”
“Getting a deeper insight on ways to support our neurodiverse students. Small but effective strategies that support ALL students as they develop.”
“Greater awareness and insight to challenges faced by students. Many Strategies now to help improve their experience and development.”
“Given me more to work on socially with my little neurodiverse student. It’s also given me more strategies to work socially with the neurotypical students as well.”
“The practical ideas which followed on from the theory.”
“Lots of ideas and strategies. Further insight into social emotional challenges and the need for awareness and teaching of social and friendship skills.”
“Its brought things to my attention that I hadn’t previously thought about, and its given me insights into how my children are processing what is happening in their day at school, and where there worries come from.”
Is this course for me?
✅ Educators
✅ Primary Teachers
✅ Support Staff (ESOs, TAs, LS, LSA, SSOs etc)
✅ Speech, OT, Psychologists, Support Workers
✅ Families/Carers
✅ What, How & When to teach Social Skills
✅ Myths & Misunderstanding
✅ How to Make and Keep Friends
✅ Impact of Executive functioning
✅ 4 Steps to Create Social Skills Program
✅ Lived Experience of Social Learning
✅ Creating Inclusive Playground
Developing Social Skills to Support Neurodiverse Children
✅ 3 Hours, 3 Lessons
✅ Online On-demand Course
✅ Transcript
✅ Certificate of Completion
✅ Handout includes Additional Helpful Tips
✅ Email questions directly to Sue Larkey
✅ 100% Money back – if, after the first two lessons, you decide the course is not for you
✅ IT support
Enrol in this Course with Confidence
100% Money Back Guarantee & Zero Risk Promise
If you start this course and find that it is not for you, we will refund 100%, no reason required. Just email support@suelarkey.com.au
Social Skills Online Course
Includes full access to all course materials and a certificate of completion.
To have an invoice sent to your organisation for payment please email support@suelarkey.com.au.
Course Price: On Sale Now $149
Group Bookings
For groups of 6 or more please email support@suelarkey.com.au to receive the discounted price. Payment can be made online using a code you will receive of via an invoice we can provide.
Course Price for a group of 6 or more: $99 per person
Consider also Sue Larkey’s Best Selling Social Skills Book
56 in stock
Meet Sue Larkey
Sue Larkey is a highly respected educator, author, and speaker with extensive experience in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). She has taught students in both mainstream and special education settings, combining practical experience with extensive research. Sue holds a Master’s in Special Education and has completed the research sections of her Doctorate in Education.
Sue’s podcast, the “Sue Larkey Podcast,” has over 1.3 million downloads across more than 200 episodes and is the #1 ranked Apple Podcast in Australia in the Course category. Her podcast resources are used by leading universities, including Monash University and Canberra University, to train teachers. She also has a global following, with over 135,000 subscribers to her weekly e-newsletter in more than 30 countries and a community of 130,000 Facebook followers.
Sue has authored over 18 books aimed at educators, teacher assistants, and parents/carers, and is a former winner of the Naturally Autistic International Award for Community Contribution. She has delivered hundreds of speeches at both international and national conferences, earning recognition as a trusted source of knowledge, compassion, and inspiration for educators, support workers, and families.
PODCAST: Top Tips for Teaching Social Emotional Learning to Increase Engagement and Participation in a Busy & Complex Classrooms
Introducing the Podcast “Top Tips for Teaching Social Emotional Learning to Increase Engagement and Participation in a Busy & Complex Classrooms” – covers teaching social skills to children with autism, offering tips on making friends, playground behaviour, setting up lunchtime clubs, and understanding social challenges, along with recommended resources.
Frequently Asked Questions
- When do we get the certificate?
Immediately upon completion of the course.
- Can this Course Count towards my Professional Development?
Yes. Completing Developing Social Skills for Children with Diverse Learning Needs in the priority area of Students/children with Disability addressing Standard Descriptor 4.1.2 from the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.
- What age is the course appropriate for?
The course is appropriate for supporting primary age children.
- Can the course be watched as a group?
Yes, the course can be watched together as a group, however each person participating needs to be individually registered.
- How long do I have to do the course
The initial access period is set to 6 months but we will always extend this if you need longer to complete the course.
- Can I rewatch the course?
Yes, you can rewatch the course as much as you like during the 6 months that the course is available to you.
- I am having technical issues, what do I do?
Contact our team on support@suelarkey.com.au
- When is the course on?
It is an online On-demand course, so it can be watched whenever it suits you.