SocialSKills Training

SocialSKills Training

Why Social Skills Programs Don’t Work Conventional social skills programs for Autistic and neurodivergent children have been used for decades in an attempt to “normalize” kids and – let’s face it-  extinguish Autistic traits. They are built upon a...
Monotropism

Monotropism

Fergus Murray, autistic science teacher and writer, shares his thoughs on the monotropism theory of autism, partly developed by his mother: Autism is still widely seen as mysterious  –  so much so that the most widely recognised symbol of it (unpopular in the autistic...
10 Tips for Parents New to Autism

10 Tips for Parents New to Autism

Did you just find out your child is autistic? Here are 10 tips for anyone who is new to understanding autism and autistic people. Please note that these are general guidelines. Every autistic person is different and can have different sensory and/or communication...
Why I Don’t Teach Social Skills

Why I Don’t Teach Social Skills

One of the more common requests I received in the early days of working with organisations, schools and families was to teach social skills to autistic children. So, I thought it might be helpful to explain why my answer is a firm NO. Unfortunately, when many parents,...
Non-Autistic Social Skills

Non-Autistic Social Skills

I’ve just read a valuable post (over at the Autistic Science Person blog) on Non-autistic social skills. At first, I thought it was going to be a little tongue-in-cheek, but it is actually both gracious and enlightening. If you haven’t got time to read the...