Dr. Margaret Anne Carter, Josie Santomauro: Pirates: An Early-Years Group Program for Developing Social Understanding and Social Competence for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Related Challenges

Abstract

Reviews the book, "Pirates: An early-years group program for developing social understanding and social competence for children with autism spectrum disorders and related challenges" by Margaret Anne Carter and Josie Santomauro (2007). This volume is, as the title makes quite explicit, a curriculum for helping preschool to third grade children with ASDs address social impairment challenges. The Pirate theme is carried throughout every chapter, describing adventures, pirate dreams, loot sharing and chanties for the children to learn and sing. There is not enough space to describe the amazingly off-the-mark activities included in this volume. Suffice it to say, it is a near perfect example of an attractively packaged curriculum with absolutely no relevance for teaching social skills to children with autism spectrum conditions. In short, this curriculum is most appropriate for children with ASDs who have above-average cognitive skills; above average receptive/expressive language; the ability to understand symbolism, metaphor and simile; good writing skills; a capacity for rich imaginative thinking and play; the ability to understand and follow behavior rules based on discussions; the ability to regulate behavior and emotions based on discussion using pirate themes and language, and to generalize what is learned to other environments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved)