You know, Socially Awkward Wednesday rolls off of the tongue and fingers nicely.
Social awkwardness is not exclusive to people on the autism spectrum or who have diagnosed social anxiety or pragmatic language disorders. It's universal, even if some don't want to admit it. Someday, somewhere, everyone will experience it. It may be more or less jarring to any given person, but it's going to happen. Even to my socially savvy husband.
Social awkwardness plays into my job in a few different ways. When you work with middle and high schoolers, you encounter it with all of your students and you're probably addressing it in therapy with social-pragmatic language goals. Some scenarios I've seen so far this year include: How do you know when to ask a question in class? Is it really a big deal to take the bathroom stall right next to another person? Why isn't telling everyone they look nice today an acceptable use of "nice words"?
I've encountered another social awkwardness scenario. Let's say you've been in a meeting, or a rehearsal, or some sort of after school activity. The event has officially ended. Half of the people have said/hugged their good-byes, and everyone else has paired or tripled up into conversations. You'd like to talk to some of these people. How do you do it? Do you listen to a conversation and find something in it that you can relate to, then listen for a pause in between sentences, potentially risking interrupting? Stand near someone watching and listening to them in case they say something to you? Decide that it's not worth feeling awkward, so you exclaim "Well, I'll see you all later!" and then leave? Some other option?
Last year, our district's SLP team did a book study on The Hidden Curriculum:Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations, by Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman, and Ronda L. Schelvan. I really recommend giving it a read, especially if you work with middle or high school. And it's not just good for those with ASDs/Asperger's. Students with language disorders are also socially awkward, and they have a lot of capacity to feel very awkward about it.
In keeping with the awkward theme of the day, I have no good conclusion for this post. So I will end it here.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
It Lives!
A whole school year went by without any blog posts. I have many reasons for this, not all of which are good excuses. I got married (celebrated my first anniversary this past August), switched to two new schools and a new age group within the district, and spent my off time doing CEUs and learning how to cook like a real adult. I led a workshop at the SW Washington Special Education Conference, and I hope to do so again this next year. This past year I split my week between an elementary school/preschool
program where there were two other SLPs, and a middle school where I was
the only SLP in the building. I have discovered that middle school is my favorite age group, so I'm thrilled to be back at the middle school again this year!
One of my supervisors at the district level told me, during a meeting sometime in December of last year, that her first year on the job was the most difficult and her second year on the job was her busiest. This certainly was the case for me, especially socially. I had to learn that if no one in a group wants to make a choice, and I end up making a choice that other people grumble about, it's not something I should take personally because the opportunity for them to make their own choice was there and they didn't take it, if that makes any sense. This applies both at work and in my personal life. I also think that in the second half of my second year, I was more comfortable with putting on my "game face" and using strategies for stress management after being around so many people. Here's a tip for neurotypicals and non-neurotypicals alike: If your employer offers a stress management class or workshop, take it!!!
One big change between my first year and my second year was that I didn't feel like I had to be sorry for my Asperger's in any way, that it wasn't a nuisance to my coworkers. I'm learning how to trust that key people at work will be honest with me if I'm doing something bothersome. So far, there have been no problems, save for not speaking loud enough at times.
This year I'm expecting to be busy again. For the beginning of the year, at least, I'll be splitting my time between a middle school and a high school. I'm excited about staying with my younger students at the middle school and following some of my older students to the high school. I'm excited that I have a better idea of what I'm doing. I'm excited that I won't be working with preschoolers this year - I worked with preschoolers for my first two years on the job and while it was enjoyable, I felt a lot more comfortable and competent with my older students.
I can't promise that I will post often on this blog, but I can promise that I will try to post more regularly. I had many things to talk/type about this past year. No doubt there will be more this year.
One of my supervisors at the district level told me, during a meeting sometime in December of last year, that her first year on the job was the most difficult and her second year on the job was her busiest. This certainly was the case for me, especially socially. I had to learn that if no one in a group wants to make a choice, and I end up making a choice that other people grumble about, it's not something I should take personally because the opportunity for them to make their own choice was there and they didn't take it, if that makes any sense. This applies both at work and in my personal life. I also think that in the second half of my second year, I was more comfortable with putting on my "game face" and using strategies for stress management after being around so many people. Here's a tip for neurotypicals and non-neurotypicals alike: If your employer offers a stress management class or workshop, take it!!!
One big change between my first year and my second year was that I didn't feel like I had to be sorry for my Asperger's in any way, that it wasn't a nuisance to my coworkers. I'm learning how to trust that key people at work will be honest with me if I'm doing something bothersome. So far, there have been no problems, save for not speaking loud enough at times.
This year I'm expecting to be busy again. For the beginning of the year, at least, I'll be splitting my time between a middle school and a high school. I'm excited about staying with my younger students at the middle school and following some of my older students to the high school. I'm excited that I have a better idea of what I'm doing. I'm excited that I won't be working with preschoolers this year - I worked with preschoolers for my first two years on the job and while it was enjoyable, I felt a lot more comfortable and competent with my older students.
I can't promise that I will post often on this blog, but I can promise that I will try to post more regularly. I had many things to talk/type about this past year. No doubt there will be more this year.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)