Bridges - Part 2: Partnering Autistic Children in their Social Learning

Partnering Autistic Children: Strategies For Social Learning

The autistic young people that Bridges meet talk about the need for social information, a ‘guide book’ that explains how social interaction works. One young man described friendship as something so complex it must have been “invented by a genius!” 

Through engaging autistic children in social learning across their primary school years, they taught us how to see the world from their point of view. They wanted to get along and feel good about themselves, especially at school. With their partnership, these children and their families taught us that social learning needed to address the way they think. Now as young adults, they share the significance that early social understanding has made to their relationships, wellbeing and resilience. 

Part two of the Bridges presentation highlights eight strategies for developing social understanding found to be effective as we partnered autistic children and their parents in a shared learning process. They recognise the unique way autistic children think and learn and address questions for them, like: What’s in it for me? How do I feel? What do I think? How do other people think and feel? What’s the situation? The strategies provide a scaffold that underpins the Bridges social curriculum. They may help parents as they partner in their child’s social learning.

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Mary Yong
Co-Founder of Bridges in Social Understanding and Specialist Speech and Language Therapist

Mary has worked with children and young people for over 35 years and is passionate about the impact of social understanding on the quality of life for autistic children. She is committed to advocating for systematic intervention and continues to champion ways of enabling professionals and parents to teach social understanding.

Her work with Catherine resulted in the creation of the Bridges social curriculum. Together with Catherine, she has presented on the topic of social understanding for autistic children internationally.  

Mary has made significant contributions in Singapore as consultant in the establishment of the Autism Resource Centre (Singapore); as well as holding the position of inaugural president of the Speech and Language Therapy Association Singapore (SALTS).

Prior to Bridges, she established and managed the largest speech therapy department at the Singapore General Hospital; and initiated a Memorandum of Understanding between the University of Sydney, Australia, and her Department for continuing research and development.

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