CAS Social Skills Development Competency

Question 1

Which foundational social communication skill, often impaired in autism, involves sharing focus on an object or event with another person?

Accepted Answer

Joint attention

Answer

Joint attention is the ability to coordinate attention between a person and an object or event, and it is a core early deficit in autism that underlies later social development.

Question 2

Social Stories were developed by which autism specialist to help individuals understand social situations and expected behaviors?

Accepted Answer

Carol Gray

Answer

Carol Gray developed Social Stories in 1991 as short, individualized narratives that describe social situations, cues, and appropriate responses for individuals with ASD.

Question 3

What term describes the difficulty many individuals with ASD have in understanding that others hold different thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives from their own?

Accepted Answer

Theory of Mind deficit

Answer

Theory of Mind (ToM) deficit refers to difficulty attributing independent mental states to others, which significantly impacts social understanding and interaction in autism.

Question 4

The PEERS (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) intervention is primarily designed for which population?

Accepted Answer

Adolescents and young adults with ASD

Answer

PEERS is an evidence-based social skills program developed at UCLA specifically targeting adolescents and young adults with ASD, focusing on making and keeping friends.

Question 5

Which type of intervention involves typically developing peers being trained to initiate and sustain social interactions with students with ASD during natural school activities?

Accepted Answer

Peer-mediated instruction and intervention

Answer

Peer-mediated instruction and intervention (PMII) trains typical peers to serve as social partners, increasing the frequency and quality of social interactions for students with ASD in inclusive settings.

(CAS) Certified Autism Specialist Practice Test

(CAS) Certified Autism Specialist Practice Test

CAS Social Skills Development Competency