Live Webinars

Making Friends: Facilitating Socialization Skills in Children and Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum

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live webinar

Making Friends: Facilitating Socialization Skills in Children and Adolescents on the Autism Spectrum

Thursday, March 26, 2026
7 pm (CT)
8 pm (ET)

1.5 Contact Hour

Educational level: Introductory

Category 1: Occupational Therapy Service Delivery, Professional Issues, Foundational Knowledge

If you need assistance or accommodations, please contact us at Info@AspireOT.us
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Brand New WebinarThis premier offering of this webinar is being offered exclusively in the Just for OT Subscription.

Future offerings will be made available for individual purchase as well as included in the Just for OT subscription.

This webinar will be held on Zoom.

Children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often desire meaningful peer relationships but face significant challenges with social engagement, communication, and reciprocity. Occupational therapy practitioners are uniquely positioned to support these clients in developing the foundational social skills needed to build friendships and participate more fully in everyday life.
This live webinar provides an in-depth exploration of common social participation challenges experienced by children and teens with ASD, while emphasizing a strengths-based, individualized approach to intervention. Participants will learn how to better identify each client’s unique social profile and identify environmental factors that influence social interaction.
Through practical case examples, reflection activities and clinically relevant discussion, this course will present a variety of evidence-informed strategies, activity ideas, and intervention approaches that can be immediately applied in pediatric practice across settings. 
Designed for occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants working in schools, clinics, and community-based settings, this engaging live webinar will equip participants with practical tools and renewed confidence to address social participation goals in children and adolescents with ASD.

Target Audience: Occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants, occupational therapy students
This occupational therapy continuing education course uses the following instructional methods: visual aides (ie slides), discussion board, guided note taking,  case examples and reflection activities.
Content disclosure: This course does not exclusively focus on any specific product or service.

Presented by:
 Rachel Chaiet, MS, OTR/L
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Benefits of this course
  • Describe the importance of developing friendships for all children and adolescents, including those with or without an Autism Spectrum Disorder.
  • Explain some of the socialization and communication challenges that children and adolescents with Autism may face when trying to make friends
  • Identify at least 3 strategies to facilitate socialization among children and adolescents with Autism

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Instructor bioS
A smiling black woman in a natural background
 Rachel Chaiet, MS, OTR/L
Aspire OT Instructor

Rachel Chaiet, MS, OTR/L is an occupational therapist from Bethel, New York who has worked with children and adolescents with developmental disabilities for over 15 years. She obtained her bachelor's and master's degree from Misericordia University in Dallas, Pennsylvania in 2010. She has presented at multiple conferences for the American Occupational Therapy Association, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and American Music Therapy Association alongside her colleagues on humor-based interventions, as well as other interventions to address social participation for individuals with developmental disabilities. She has also published articles in OT Advance and OT Practice on various interventions related to improving social participation for this population. In her spare time, she can be found listening to podcasts, working on craft projects and spending time with her daughters, Mikaia and Adelyn, and husband, Max.

DISCLOSURES

Financial: Rachel is the author of "What's So Funny" and is compensated as an Aspire OT Instructor

Non Financial:  Rachel does not have any non-financial disclosures.
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Purchase a subscription for only $69  to attend this webinar as well as have 12 months access to our self-paced courses, live webinars, discussion panels and forums!

Course Outline

 0 - 5 minutes

 6-10 minutes 

11-30 minutes

31-35 minutes

36-46 minutes

47-62 minutes

63-78 minutes

78-83 minutes

84-90 minutes

Introduction and Objectives 

Importance of Building Social Skills for Children/Adolescents

Challenges in Socialization for Individuals with ASD 

OT’s Role in Addressing Socialization 

Assessing Socialization in Children/Adolescents with ASD

Building Social Skills/Social Skills Training 

Modifying Activities/Environment to Facilitate Socialization 

Case Study Example 

Questions & Wrap Up
Completion Requirements
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In order to receive the certificate of completion, participants must meet ALL of the following criteria:
  • Payment of the course in full
  • Attend webinar in its entirety
  • Complete Attestation of Attendance
  • Pass the course exam with a score of 70% or greater
  • Complete the Post Course Evaluation
Please note that no credit or certificate will be issued unless all criteria is met.  Partial credit will not be issued.  
cancellation policy
Live Courses and Webinars
Learner cancellations: In the event that the learner requests to cancel or is unable to attend a course, a refund for the total paid for the course will be granted if Aspire OT is notified via email at info@aspireot.us within 10 business days prior to date of the scheduled course, minus a non-refundable registration fee of 25% of registration price.  If the learner provides notification of cancellation less then 10 business days prior to the scheduled course, the learner will be offered the opportunity to attend the same webinar on an alternate date or enrollment in the recorded on-demand version of that webinar, instead of a refund.  

No refunds will be issued after a course has been attended for more than 30 minutes.  Partial credit will not be issued.  

Provider cancellations: In the event of inclement weather or other event resulting in the inability for a live course to be provided within the scheduled time, learners will be offered an alternate date or a full refund for registration paid.
On-Demand web Courses 
Web courses will remain available to learners for 1 year. No refunds will be available for web courses that have been attended or viewed for greater than 30 minutes. In the event of a refund, the learner will be unenrolled in the course immediately upon issuance of a refund. No refunds will be issued for any course in which a certificate has been issued.  
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Aspire OT is an AOTA Approved Provider of professional development.
PD activity approval ID# 15294
This Distance Learning-Interactive course is offered at 0.15 CEUs (Introductory Education Level, OT Service Delivery, Professional Issues, Foundational Knowledge)
The assignment of AOTA CEUs does not imply endorsement of specific course content, products, or clinical procedures by AOTA.
This course is

Registered with CE Broker

Aspire OT reports directly to CE Broker for those states that require it: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Tennessee.

  • CE Broker Tracking Number: 20-1356722
  • Individuals must complete the required steps to set up their Aspire OT account. You can view those steps here. 
  • Course completions are reported within 48 hours.
  • Refer to our FAQ for more information.

Course Author

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This course is being offered by Aspire OT.