Articles that focus on basic social interaction, guidance on ways to help people on the spectrum connect with other people (especially making friends), sharing interests, understanding social cues, reactions, nonverbal cues, other people’s feelings, body language, facial expressions.
Social skills can be broadly defined as the ability to develop and maintain relationships. Deficits in social skills are a core feature for children, as well as adults with autism. For school-age children with high-functioning autism, limitations in social skills adversely impact conversation skills, peer acceptance, and self-perception. Available research indicates that children with autism […]
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Welcome back to Social Skills Corner. This month we will give you five excellent ways to help your child transition from school to summer break. We will begin with an example which many parents can relate to: Susan was not looking forward to June because she knew she would need to find something for her […]
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Is saying hello or waving “hi” hard for your child to do? Does your child ask you questions about something you shared with him/her? Will your child ask another child to play? These may be some of the challenges your child with autism faces every day, and they impact the ability to make friends. Thankfully, […]
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Friendships have an important role to play in our overall well-being and quality of life. Unfortunately, many children with autism do not establish friendships and continue to have difficulties doing so once they get into their teen years. A recent study in the Journal of Autism, reported that teenagers and adults who have a diagnosis […]
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Kids with autism usually struggle socially and often find the teen years especially difficult. Anxiety and depression can emerge or worsen, along with a sense of helplessness, worthlessness and loneliness. Mental health professionals often refer these teens to social skills groups. These groups teach lessons about how to “appropriately” interact in a neurotypical (NT) world. […]
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Dating can be filled with stress and insecurity, but what happens when you add to this the fact that your date has Asperger’s syndrome? What should you do and what should you not do? How can you make things work? Here are 10 points to keep in mind when falling in love with one of […]
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They said to persevere. I began to perseverate. They discouraged me. Be joyful they said. I flapped my hands with joyful feeling. Not like that, they said. They used a lot of words whereas I had not many. They said I needed to speak like them, and when I did, they said it was the […]
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Living with Asperger’s syndrome has turned out to be a literal roller coaster in more than one sense. For starters, you don’t always know how to deal with intense feelings, with different situations that are out of your routine, and, this is the best part, you have to discover the best way to process it […]
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For women with Asperger’s, the workplace can be a very isolated place. Organizations are social environments, which is uniquely challenging for Aspie Women. In the workplace, women tend to form cliques, social groups, and tribes that neurotypical women are more naturally enabled to understand and navigate. In organizations that I have observed, there is a […]
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My 8-year-old son with autism loves his little brother and wants to play with him, but he has difficulty sharing, is overly-affectionate, and his screaming is so off-putting. How can I encourage their relationship as siblings? – Priya Hi Priya, I love that you want to help foster the brotherly bond between your boys! It […]
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