Re: Structured approach - training social skills

May 6, 2009

Bridgette my guess is the west coast folks are ahead of us on this.

Even at private schools on the east coast the social skills do not go as far as

Winner does in social thinking (how others think).

So many schools social skill classes are geared to someone with ADHD

(impulsive).

You may have luck if you can afford to pay for some training

or buy Winner's books and DVD for the school counselor or Speech Therapist.

Perhaps if you pick a few of Winner's skills

and try to get it added to the IEP you can have this addressed.

We hired an advocate that argued that an integrated

social skill program needed to be included in the IEP.

They agreed to add a social skill class.

Private schools will have there own programs and won't

appreciate the advice. I don't think they do a better

job with the social skill training itself. But they would offer

more of it.

I think with girls (I have an 11 year old) they need Winner's

program. Girls do think alot about what others are thinking.

I think boys can get away with talking about facts and hobbies

more than girls.

Pam

-- In , " bridgette_0419 " <bnicholson@...> wrote:

>

> Hi,

> I just joined, and did a search on social skills, and came up with thousands

of hits. And so, I'm sorry if I'm posting a similar question to ones which have

previously been discussed, but I had a hard time sifting through all the social

skills posts on this mailing list.

> I have a nine-year-old daughter with AS and ADD. She is a remarkable child,

and has come very far. There has been much improvement over the years. However,

she still has significant deficits in the area of social thinking and social

skills.

> We have worked with her extensively at home. However, in the school

environment, apart from some very basic therapy, there is very little focus on

her social skills and pragmatics.

>

> I was wondering what your experiences are for those of you who have children

with Asperger's in public school systems. Do any of you have teams who will work

on a structured approach to training pragmatic language, social skills and

social thinking? When I talk about a structured approach, I am thinking about

something like the approach used by Winner in her book " Inside

out: what makes a person with social cognitive deficits tick? " When I read that

book, I realized that's exactly where my daughter is currently with her needs

for developing social skills. I also recently got onto the RDI website, and

need to look into that further. However, her educational team are just not

interested in following any kind of structured approach.

>

> I would be very interested to hear your opinions about how educational teams

should work towards training appropriate social interaction and social skills

within the school environment? What has your experience been with the approach

used for your child in their school?

>

> Thanks,

> Bridgette

>

May 7, 2009

What are some of the key elements of RDI?

Pam

> >

> > Hi,

> > I just joined, and did a search on social skills, and came up with

> thousands of hits. And so, I'm sorry if I'm posting a similar question to ones

> which have previously been discussed, but I had a hard time sifting through

> all the social skills posts on this mailing list.

> > I have a nine-year-old daughter with AS and ADD. She is a remarkable

> child, and has come very far. There has been much improvement over the years.

> However, she still has significant deficits in the area of social thinking

> and social skills.

> > We have worked with her extensively at home. However, in the school

> environment, apart from some very basic therapy, there is very little focus

on

> her social skills and pragmatics.

> >

> > I was wondering what your experiences are for those of you who have

> children with Asperger's in public school systems. Do any of you have teams

who

> will work on a structured approach to training pragmatic language, social

> skills and social thinking? When I talk about a structured approach, I am

> thinking about something like the approach used by Winner in

> her book " Inside out: what makes a person with social cognitive deficits

> tick? " When I read that book, I realized that's exactly where my daughter is

> currently with her needs for developing social skills. I also recently got

> onto the RDI website, and need to look into that further. However, her

> educational team are just not interested in following any kind of structured

> approach.

> >

> > I would be very interested to hear your opinions about how educational

> teams should work towards training appropriate social interaction and social

> skills within the school environment? What has your experience been with

> the approach used for your child in their school?

> >

> > Thanks,

> > Bridgette

> >

>

> **************Remember Mom this Mother's Day! Find a florist near you now.

> (http://yellowpages.aol.com/search?query=florist & ncid=emlcntusyelp00000006)

>

May 7, 2009

Thanks great! Or how did it work out for your son?

I was a shy kid and had classes like Dale Carnegie for

public speaking etc as an adult. I just though Winner was so unique

in her approach of teaching theory of mind sort of stuff.

I would not have been able to have thought of how to explain these

ideas to my daughter. Do you agree?

We have two social skill guru's in our state of NJ Jed Baker

and Dr. Elman (unwritten rules of friendship).

Neither of this folks teach the kids how to think about others

interests and how people think about socializing.

The thing that works best for my daughter is having a

faciliator (she doesn't have one). She has gotten very self concious and shy in

5th grade especially.

I hope you get all the services you need.