Programs for teenage girls with aspergers?

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Ganondox
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25 Oct 2014, 3:32 am

Hi. So I volunteer at a local mental health center and assist them with their program for autistic teenagers. Now, one thing about the problem is that it's male only, so I asked one of the people there about it. She says it's separated because of hormonal reasons and the fact boys and girls have different social problems in the highschool years, and the reason there isn't an equivalent program for girls is because while there are autistic girls in the area who would benefit from such, there simply isn't enough of them with severe enough behavioral problems to warrant the creation of a program for girls. The few autistic girls whose behavioral problems are severe enough are worked with individually at school, but she said there is a possibility they may set a program for girls in the future. So what I'm wondering is, does anyone know of any social/life skills/coping programs specifically targeted towards teenage girls with Aspergers syndrome (high functioning autism)? If not, do you think it would be good to have such a thing available, and do you have any idea about how one may be implemented?


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Waterfalls
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25 Oct 2014, 7:05 am

What's available for girls and women is very limited and it's frustrating. I hope you an get something going.



FluttercordAspie93
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06 Nov 2014, 6:00 am

Information on Aspie girls is very limited, in general. Mainly because, it's just a lot easier for girls to hide the symptoms than boys can, hence why the percentage of diagnosed females is much lower than the percentage of guys.

But anyway, hope you're able to find them a good program!



Shep
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06 Nov 2014, 7:49 am

Ganondox wrote:
the reason there isn't an equivalent program for girls is because while there are autistic girls in the area who would benefit from such, there simply isn't enough of them with severe enough behavioral problems to warrant the creation of a program for girls.
"autistic girls" (plural) means more than one. I don't know about you, but in my mind, even if you can help one individual (regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, etc.) with their problems, isn't it worth it as a whole? The fact that there's more only helps this argument.

The sad truth is that young and adolescent females known to be on the spectrum are an unfortunate minority. Key phrase there: "known to be on", but here's the kicker: you are in a position to start a movement. One thing you said that I think may be limiting your thinking is "in the area". Why does this have to be limited to where you live? You're living in the age of modern technology, where we have the magic of the internet. Just because only three or four (using those numbers as an example by the way) individuals on the spectrum can physically be there doesn't mean there aren't more who cannot be there physically but want to join also!

I'm not trying to "plug" anything here or redirect attention, but one of the options I've looked into for the church I'm starting is all the services Google has to offer. From YouTube to Hangouts, there are quite a few effective ways to get this group to be larger than your physical borders. Hangouts for example lets you video chat with as many people as you want. Just be sure to chat with them one on one first to make sure they're legit (and to avoid the trolls), then invite them to a Hangouts session. Maybe even have more than one on weekends to accommodate all time zones. YouTube can also be used for resources you think are helpful.

Frankly, as a guy, I have always felt that females seem to be "grabbing the short straw" with regards to autism. They are a minority that seems to be shoved under the rug, and I for one never cared for that kind of treatment. Seeing this thread gives me hope for what is to come of this support group. I say go for it! I am 100% behind you on this one. If my fiancee doesn't come across this herself, I'll show it to her and see if she can help (she has Asperger's as well, and is a regular on here). I know throwing a guy into the mix can make things awkward, so I won't ask to join any meetings or anything, but I'd love to help in any way that I can, and I'm sure my fiancee would too! :D



Ganondox
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10 Nov 2014, 2:15 am

Shep wrote:
Ganondox wrote:
the reason there isn't an equivalent program for girls is because while there are autistic girls in the area who would benefit from such, there simply isn't enough of them with severe enough behavioral problems to warrant the creation of a program for girls.
"autistic girls" (plural) means more than one. I don't know about you, but in my mind, even if you can help one individual (regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, etc.) with their problems, isn't it worth it as a whole? The fact that there's more only helps this argument.

The sad truth is that young and adolescent females known to be on the spectrum are an unfortunate minority. Key phrase there: "known to be on", but here's the kicker: you are in a position to start a movement. One thing you said that I think may be limiting your thinking is "in the area". Why does this have to be limited to where you live? You're living in the age of modern technology, where we have the magic of the internet. Just because only three or four (using those numbers as an example by the way) individuals on the spectrum can physically be there doesn't mean there aren't more who cannot be there physically but want to join also!

I'm not trying to "plug" anything here or redirect attention, but one of the options I've looked into for the church I'm starting is all the services Google has to offer. From YouTube to Hangouts, there are quite a few effective ways to get this group to be larger than your physical borders. Hangouts for example lets you video chat with as many people as you want. Just be sure to chat with them one on one first to make sure they're legit (and to avoid the trolls), then invite them to a Hangouts session. Maybe even have more than one on weekends to accommodate all time zones. YouTube can also be used for resources you think are helpful.

Frankly, as a guy, I have always felt that females seem to be "grabbing the short straw" with regards to autism. They are a minority that seems to be shoved under the rug, and I for one never cared for that kind of treatment. Seeing this thread gives me hope for what is to come of this support group. I say go for it! I am 100% behind you on this one. If my fiancee doesn't come across this herself, I'll show it to her and see if she can help (she has Asperger's as well, and is a regular on here). I know throwing a guy into the mix can make things awkward, so I won't ask to join any meetings or anything, but I'd love to help in any way that I can, and I'm sure my fiancee would too! :D


It's a logistics issue, they don't have resources for every worthy program. I'm only a volunteer, so all I know about this is from word of mouth of one person I work with. What I've heard is that for the girls they just work with them on a one-to-one basis at school, but they are thinking about maybe doing a program for girls in the future because yes, just one creates the need. I know there is also some program for girls with behavioral problems, but that's for like runaways or something, not autism.

Anyway, the online thing is exactly what I was thinking about, I think it's a great idea, but this is all hypothetical as again, I'm just a volunteer with a year of high-school psychology who is busy with schoolwork, so I'm in no position to run such a thing at this point in time. Right now I'm just seeing what people's thoughts on the idea are. In order to get this running, I'd need someone with prior experience of social work with people with autism and they know how to actually plan lessons and whatnot instead of just giving tickets to kids asking questions. Anyway, I'd love to have a women with Aspergers help, they would have insight I don't have as I'm a guy myself. Most the workers at the all-male program are women anyway, so yeah.


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Ganondox
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09 Dec 2014, 12:45 am

Okay, just going to add that today was the first day the program decided to include girls. It was also my last day for the semester.


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NovelNotion
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21 Dec 2014, 2:24 am

I'd give a kidney to be able to help girls like me. I don't ever want anyone to feel the way I felt about myself growing up. Please let me know about anything you guys come up with, because this is a seriously neglected demographic.



pj4990
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21 Dec 2014, 2:20 pm

Glad they started including girls. I can understand running separate programmes for girls and boys if there is a girl one too, but just banning the girls and leaving them with nothing is unacceptable.



SadButRad
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22 Dec 2014, 6:16 am

well alot of it has to do with mimicing and copying people for social inclusion so something important is to allow someone to develop their own voice and mannerisms and social judgement that don't simply reflect those they are around to seem "normal" and "in step with everyone".

another thing is learning how to tell when someone is being honest or misleading with you. I've often had people tell me some guy was hitting on me and making everything they said to me up and I had no Idea and people would be like couldn't you tell? and I would be like I'm not psychic?

some things ^