Show Notes
I often struggle to describe exactly what I teach to the students in the program here at Starfish. Partly because my ADHD brain has a hard time translating my thoughts into words sometimes, and partly because there is just SO much that goes on here!
I usually use the term 'social skills' to describe what students learn, but really I only use that term because it's what people know and recognize. We also work on:
life skills
problem-solving skills
communication strategies
self-advocacy
emotional regulation
conflict resolution
decision-making
relationship building.
Yeah, it's a lot!
Over the next couple of months, I'm using my solo podcast/YouTube episodes to dive deep into each one of the four modules that make up the program here, called SC3 Academy. 'SC3' stands for socially competent, confident, and connected.
In this week's episode, I'm breaking down the 8 weeks of our module called 'Identity'. This is the content I teach live in the groups in August through October, and I consider it to be the foundation of the program.
Here's a clip from the episode:
Because of this, our kiddos very, very rarely get helpful social feedback. So if all that's happening is, you know, every time it's recess time the other kids run away from you, or you know, the other kids keep telling you that you're annoying but you don't know why, how can you possibly create a different outcome for yourself? How can you possibly start to make friends and have conversations with kids when you don't know why the kids are running away from you? Or you don't know why they're calling you annoying? Or you don't know why everybody stops talking when you walk up to the group in the hallway? This is one of my biggest soapboxes if you will about social is everybody in the world deserves to have helpful social feedback. And so lesson seven, week seven, I teach our students how to give each other helpful social feedback.
On a personal note: I moved out of Texas a few months ago, and it is currently 2F/-17C and snowing in my new home! My kitty and I are holed up inside because I'm not even pretending like I know how to drive in the ice and snow! Wishing everyone in the US a safe week as most of us are experiencing the chill right now!
I'll see you again next week, and I'm glad you are here!
More from Social Skills is Canceled
Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who struggled with thinking about others during conversations. Sometimes they would say things that hurt other people's feelings or were perceived as rude or disrespectful, or even things that other people didn't really want to talk about or hear about. Sometimes these students would stop listening when people talked about things that they didn't care about. Sometimes they would even tell people they weren't interested in what the group or the person was talking about. I created the lesson I'm sharing today for all of these students. In this lesson, our students learn what a social filter is, how it's different than lying, and when and why using a social fake is a good idea. We also practice taking some of our common complaints that we might have and turning them into problem-solving opportunities.
Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who didn't know how to initiate a social conversation with someone that they knew. Some students weren't able to think of something that the person they were talking to liked or liked to talk about, so they ended up using generic conversation starters like, "Hey, what's up?" Or, "How's it going?" Some students were able to think of things they knew about the other person, but they didn't know how to use that information to start a conversation, so they didn't say anything. I created the lesson I'm sharing this week for all of these students. In this lesson, students learn the difference between an informational and a social conversation, and how to initiate a conversation with someone they know based on things they know about them.
Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who didn’t recognize that there were some things that should be ‘alone behaviors’, or things we do whenwe are by ourselves. Some students had developed habits around ‘picking’, likepicking their nose, picking their skin, and/or picking at their pants or underwear. Other students didn’t realize that most people don’t want tohear someone burp or fart, so they didn’t know how to respond when they did it accidentally, OR they didn’t put any effort into trying to not do these things in front of others. And then there were students who often complained to others, even about situations and experiences that those around them were also going through at the same time.
Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious kids and teens who struggled with staying on topic during a conversation. Some of the kids in this group continued talking about something, even when it was clear to everyone else that no one was interested in continuing to talk about that topic. Some students changed the topic every time they asked a question, unaware that others in the group had a hard time keeping up with all the changes and randomness, and that it really wasn't a conversation, it was more like an interview. And some of the kids had a hard time recognizing when others changed the topic, so they continued making comments about topics that the group had moved on from. There were also students in this group who got frustrated when the topic changed, because they still wanted to keep talking about that topic, and so they weren't able to change and shift with the group when the topic changed, as it always does. I created the lesson I'm sharing this week for all of these students. In this lesson, students learn how and when to change the topic appropriately, why they or others may choose to change the topic, and how to handle topic changes that they weren't wanting or expecting.
Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who didn't know that there are stages or levels between strangers and friends. Sometimes these students treat people they kind of knew like they were strangers, not acknowledging them when they saw them. Sometimes they didn't know how to engage in small talk with people they kind of knew, so interactions were pretty awkward. And some students thought everyone they knew was their friend, which meant they were often too friendly or too personal with people they only kind of knew. And the reality is that most people in our lives are people we only kind of know. I created the lesson I'm sharing on this week's podcast for all of these students. In this lesson, I teach students that an acquaintance is someone we recognize from somewhere or something. We usually know their name, but not always. This can include students in our class or our group, neighbors, teachers, and friends of our parents. We also talk about what the social expectations are when we are around acquaintances, like small talk and introductions to other people.