Socially Awkward Wednesday

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.