Social Training – Did You Benefit?

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I’m just wondering: Has anyone here had any special training in social skills, from a professional, and did you benefit?

As an adult or as a kid?

How big was your school? Was it private or public? Was it elementary, middle or high school?
Is a big school better (more chances to find a compatible friend)
or worse (too easy to get lost or fall through the cracks)?

Did they practice “Positive Disciplie” or any specific, named philosophy or program with the whole school, including the regular kids? (Character education, whatever you call it.)
How much? A single, lame movie or a serious program?

This question was inspired by another thread, but you don’t need to read it to answer my question.
“Does anyone else homeschool their child with ASD?”
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt71675.html

Yeah as a younger kid I did this group made for Autistic individuals , being the less oblivious of the out-of-whack group i deducted that based on how we had to do a bunch of games that involved social situations that i hated that i was supposed to be learning interactions skills or something. Overall i REALLY got nothing out of it and im still pissed off at my mom who said it was soccer club. Man... did i confuse the hell out of the employees of the place when i kept asking "when do we play soccer, where's the field???" , maybe they thought it was my "obsession activity" all us Aspies have.

I got a private message in response to this question from a WP regular,
I'm assuming I should keep it anonymous.

Bottom line: One vote for "it was worthless."

A little bit of it from cognitive therapy. It made me better at pretending to be something I wasn't! Yay!
Though it probably has helped a lot with school etc. You know, the mandatory interactions where you absolutely have to be 'normal'.

I am 17 and have been in a social skills program for the last year.It was a fun.
The first project we did was a computer game taught the right things to do in situations.
We thought of situations and the answers and I did the programing. I made some friends that I hang out with sometimes.

It helped me a lot.

How did it help?
What kind of program was it and what did they do?

Conversations don't dry out after 10 seconds, and I've learned to read other people's body language, as well as using "normal" body language.



It was a group, and the leaders explained in details how to improve one's social skills. The course lasted for approximately 16 weeks.

Someone started a similar thread, titled "Social Skills Class."
http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt71941.html

No need to comment in both threads.
I just figured I'd mention.

Hmm I just did one and so far its helped me a little though I have yet to tell due to all the lack of social interactions I have because its summer and all my friends are thousands of miles away from me. School is coming up soon, then I can really see if it helped. I'd say they taught me to be more aware of the image im putting out and how to read others better. Now Im super self conscience during my job just knowing all those brief social interactions and probably putting out something negative. I still dont know how to handle the interactions with my job. Like if someone just asks me to get something, how do I do it smoothly instead of just being mute even though the interaction like means almost nothing. Sorry I got off on a tangent.

Overall depends on the person and program. The program I was in was really trying to teach me something so it was kinda helpful I think.

Oh I had a socil skills class allright.

And all it did was keep me from my friends ... they would be at somebody's house and I'd say mom I want to go to billys house for such and such and then shed go ... "No, it's time for your social skills class" ... and then my parents thought I had no friends because I was always afraid to bring them over since my parents were all sorts of crazy ... like they would make EVERYONE pray at the table or take shoes off and s**t ... I was a kid and felt awkward bringing friends over so I barely ever did ... but yeah I did those classes and you know what they taught me? I have a lot more social skills than I realized ... in fact I am borderline "normal" hahahahahahah .... what are you trying to learn socially? Maybe I could help you out?

-Zane

i didn't have professional social training but my family trained me and it worked wonders. they taught me how to have a conversation, taught me to simulate eye contact (that one was indirect, i figured it out but they made me aware of it), and made me aware that i was different and that got me to try to learn what i could from people. so i still have a lot of difficulty reading social cues and body language but i'm much better than i was, good enough that people generally don't think i'm different, i just have trouble interacting in a meaningful way with most people.

Nope, never. I'd love a NT friend to give me some tho'.

I got it all through grade school. I guess it helped a little, but the only way I truly learned was through real experiences and teaching myself.

I went to a smaller middle school (300-something kids), and it was torture. I had a small group with three other people where discussed stuff (I left after a year because I wanted desperately to be normal, and I felt like the group did nothing for me).

In high school I saw a special teacher who helped me deal with mundane interactions - confronting teachers with issues, time management and how to interact with others. This was as helpful as it could be - I didn't get much from this either, but it acted as sort of a salvation from me, like a mini therapy session. She'd encourage me to talk to other students and to go to certain clubs, which I never went to (at the time, having been harassed in middle school left me with little self-esteem).

The only time I learned was later on in high school, where I paid attention to the mistakes I made and reminded myself not to make them again. College also led to a big improvement in my social abilities.

Definitely pick a larger school. If you're overwhelmed by it, there will be staff to help you out. It's just better for socializing because rumors won't bite you in the ass as much.