You know your child needs social skills support. Finding the time and the plan is the hard part.
You have been told your child needs to work on social skills. You may have been handed a folder of worksheets, or put on a waitlist, or told to “practice at home” without anyone explaining what practising actually looks like on a Tuesday afternoon with supper to make.
So you search for social skills activities for autism and find a hundred ideas with no order to them. You try one. It goes badly. You are not sure whether it went badly because it was the wrong activity, the wrong moment, or because you did it wrong — and there is nobody to ask.
Meanwhile the real obstacles are ordinary ones. There is not enough time. Someone has to watch the other children. The park is not safe to practise in. And the sessions that do happen are exhausting, because you are inventing the plan and delivering it at the same time.
“Every child deserves quality social skills support. It's heartbreaking that many children with autism miss out on the intervention they need to effortlessly connect with others.”
— Cheryl Turner, SLP (ret.)
A social skills program for autism that hands you the plan
Pathways to Connection is a complete, sequenced course of social skills training for autism that a parent can deliver at home. You are not designing the intervention. You are following it.
The manual gives you a script — what to set up, what to say, what to do when your child responds and when they don't. Four demonstration videos show the core activities being run, so you can see the pacing and the prompting for yourself. After each session you fill in a log, which gives you a written record of what your child actually did.
The program focuses on missed developmental steps that are simple, and fun, to teach — starting with the first two steps of social interaction: requesting, your child learning that communication gets them something they want, and looking, your child learning to check in with another person's face. These are not arbitrary starting points. Nearly every later social skill, from reading a social situation to holding a conversation, rests on those two.
Scripted, so you don't improvise
The manual tells you exactly what to say and do. No preparation, no lesson planning, no guessing.
Video demonstrations
Watch the core activities run before you try them — puzzles, badminton, play food, and the visual schedule.
4 pages of reproduceable therapy logs
More than 9 unique activities on each page — more than 35 in total — so you can track progress and show outcomes.
Printable visual schedule
Schedule cards to smooth transitions and make routine change predictable.
Watch the program in action
Built for connection, not compliance
Over four decades, Cheryl has worked with and around most of the major approaches — ABA, PECS, DIRFloortime, Reference and Regulate, TEACCH. Each has genuine strengths, and each has limits. Compliance-based programs in particular are not the right fit for every child, and many of them do not produce natural, independent communication so much as trained responses.
Pathways to Connection is an evidence-based alternative to compliance training. The goal is a child who communicates naturally and independently — not a child who performs on cue. This methodology respects neurodiversity while building essential skills for independence and lifelong communication success.
One clarification, because the word “scripted” does double duty. The manual is scripted — that is for you, so you always know what to say next. Your child is not given scripts to memorise or social stories to recite. The sessions are structured activities that give social communication a real natural reason to happen.
When a child has a reliable way to ask for what they want, the behaviours that filled that gap tend to ease. Families often notice that before they notice anything else.
Is this right for your child?
This program is a good fit if:
- Your child is autistic or has social communication differences
- Your child is not yet reliably requesting things, or not yet looking at faces during interaction
- You are a parent, grandparent, or caregiver willing to run short structured sessions at home
- You want to start now rather than wait for an assessment or a spot in therapy
It's probably not the right fit if:
- Your child is already holding back-and-forth conversations — this program starts earlier than that
- You are looking for a curriculum to run with a whole classroom
This program teaches foundational skills. It is a real starting point, not a complete replacement for a speech-language pathologist where one is available to you.
What you get
The digital program is an instant download — it is yours the moment you order.
- The complete scripted manual (PDF) — the social skills lesson plans for autism written out step by step
- Links to the demonstration videos — the core activities filmed so you can see them done
- 4 pages of reproduceable therapy logs — more than 9 unique activities on each page, more than 35 in total, so you can track progress and demonstrate outcomes
- Printable visual schedule cards — for building predictable routines
- The Toy Sourcing Guide — all 13 toys the program uses, each with a photo, the skill it targets, and buy links for Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, and Walmart, plus acceptable substitutes for anything unavailable where you live
The toys are not included in the digital program. Budget roughly what you'd expect if you're buying all 13 new — though the guide lists substitutes, and many families already own several of them.
How the program runs, week to week
- Order and download. The full program arrives in your inbox immediately. Print the manual and the logs, or work from a tablet.
- Gather your materials. Use the Toy Sourcing Guide to pick up what you need.
- Run a session. About 20 minutes, five times a week, is recommended. Follow the script. Watch the video first if it's an activity you haven't run before.
- Log it and move on. Fill in the therapy log for that activity. Over time the logs become a record you can show a teacher, a paediatrician, or an SLP.
Forty years behind every session
Cheryl Turner spent more than four decades as a speech-language pathologist working with children aged 0 to 7 who had difficulty communicating or socialising. Pathways to Connection is what she arrived at: the activities that worked most reliably, written down so a parent can run them without her in the room.
How it compares
| Pathways to Connection | Social skills groups | Free activity lists | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | $249 once | Per session, ongoing | Free |
| Waitlist | None | Often long | None |
| Structured plan | Yes, a full manual | Varies | No |
| You can run it | Yes, scripted | No | In theory |
| Progress tracking | 4 pages of logs included | Sometimes | No |
| 1:1 attention | Yes, you and your child | Shared with the group | — |
This program is built to address a common situation: no therapy nearby, a long waitlist, or a child who is not yet ready for a group setting because the foundational skills are not in place.
Other ways to work with Cheryl
Physical Visual Schedule Cards
A ready-made set of sturdy plastic cards. Add these if you would rather not print and cut at home.
$49 CADComplete Physical Kit
Everything in the digital program, plus all 13 toys in a child-proof container, the printed manual, 4 pages of reproduceable therapy logs, six sand timers, and 24 laminated visual schedule cards. Ships within Canada: free delivery in Southern Saskatchewan, $80 elsewhere in Canada.
$925 CDNA social skills curriculum for special education settings
The same approach works in a classroom or on a caseload. Because the manual is scripted, an educational assistant can run a session with fidelity, and the 4 pages of reproduceable therapy logs give you written documentation for IEP goals and progress reporting — which makes Pathways to Connection usable as a structured social skills curriculum for special education.
Enquire about school licensing →
Questions parents ask
Do I need any training or a background in speech therapy?
No. Every session is scripted, and the core activities are on video. If you can follow a recipe, you can run a session.
What age is this for?
The program targets the earliest social communication skills — requesting and looking — so it suits children who have not yet established those, regardless of where they fall in that range.
My child is nonspeaking. Will this work?
Yes — this program is ideal for children who are non-verbal.
How much time does it take each week?
20 minutes, five times a week, is recommended.
When will I see progress?
Progress depends on several factors:
- How frequently you use the program with your child
- How closely you follow the program
- How ready your child is for requesting and looking
Some children progress through these first two phases of connection in a matter of weeks; others take several years.
Do I have to buy the toys?
The program is built around 13 specific toys, but almost half the activities need no special toys at all, and there are pictures of the toys in the program. You do not need to order the exact one that is pictured. Many families already have several. You do not need all 13 to begin.
I'm outside Canada. Can I order?
Yes. The digital program is worldwide and the download is instant. The physical kit ships within Canada only.
Is this ABA?
No. Over 40 years Cheryl has worked with ABA, PECS, DIRFloortime, Reference and Regulate, and TEACCH, and has found that each has its pros and cons. Pathways to Connection is an evidence-based alternative to compliance training, built on the view that compliance-type programs are not the right fit for every child. Her full reasoning is here.
What if it isn't right for us?
This program does not claim to be “right” for every child, but once you've downloaded the program there is no way to give it back, so all sales are final.
How do I get it?
It's an instant download from our Square store — the program is yours the moment you order. The demonstration videos are hosted online, so you reach those through links in the manual.
Start with the first two steps
Requesting and looking — the two missed developmental steps that everything social is built on, and both of them simple, and fun, to teach. You can begin this week.
Get Pathways to Connection — $249 CDN
Instant download · Worldwide · Questions? littlevoiceshub@gmail.com