Re: To Jill re social skills group

[Guest guest]

Dear Jill,

It sounds to me like this social skills group isn't structured enough for kids

with Asperger's Syndrome. I don't think you can just plunk down four kids with

AS into a room and tell them to talk about whatever comes up. At 's new

school, they have social skills class every day. It is very structured. They

play board games - strategy games, apparently - and have to deal with issues of

winning, losing, collaboration, risk taking, etc. If you ask the kids about it,

they all get very animated and excited and say it's " cool " ! really likes

it.

Liz

Jill Kern wrote:

> Dear ,

> How did you start this social skills group? We found out about a social

> skills group for teenagers with Asperger's syndrome run by a nearby

> psychologist and enrolled Owen, but after about four months I don't see any

> positive results. The group consists of two girls with Asperger's and one

> boy besides Owen. All of them have better social skills than he does (at

> least they respond when I say hello to them), and the boy, , seems to

> have a real rapport with Owen. But the way the group is run, from the

> little I can find out (they have all been told that discussions within the

> group are confidential, so Owen takes this literally and does not tell me

> anything), is that the kids talk about topics any group of teenagers would

> talk about if guided by a therapist -- college plans, dating (!!apparently

> this subject upset all of them), proper etiquette, etc. I feel more and

> more as if Owen doesn't look forward to group meetings, and one of the girls

> seems to have decided that he is really weird, and doesn't hesitate to let

> me and him know. When I come to pick Owen up after the group meets, he

> often is standing as far away from the other kids as he can, or actually

> going to another floor of the building. If I stop to exchange a few words

> with the parents, he starts making weird birdlike noises. Because he also

> makes these noises during group meetings, his psychologist recently called

> me and said she thinks he has Tourette's syndrome and would benefit from

> medication. I called his neurologist at her suggestion, and the neurologist

> said that she didn't see any need for medication (especially not the drugs

> that are typically prescribed for it, which are anti-psychotics) and that if

> he had gotten this far without it, she didn't think it made sense now. My

> friends who know Owen well also scoff at the idea that he has Tourette's

> syndrome, since he never makes weird noises around them.

> I would like to start a smaller group consisting of perhaps Owen and

> and any other boys with Asperger's I can find. I don't think girls with

> Asperger's act much like Asperger boys or have the same concerns, but maybe

> this is just because of the small sample I know -- consisting of these two

> girls and one other.

> So how did you go about it?

> Jill

>

>

[Guest guest]

I was told that the best social skill sgroups shoudl consist of chidlren with

different Dx not all AS. My son is with a group that has ADHD,OCD and AS...each

within the same age group (2 yr differnece) and intellictual level. Its been

about 6mo. and is doing well but I was told not to expect overnight changes.

DSD has finally made a friend. This friend also is NT and calls my DS and

invites him out.

Good luck,

maria

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