Teaching Active Listening Skills to Aspergers Kids
Children with Aspergers generally don’t have the innate ability to exchange eye contact or use appropriate facial expressions when interacting with others. This can make them seem odd when interacting with both adults and their peers. Some of the way they interact with others can cause teasing or other behaviors that cause the Aspergers child to feel lonely or left out of the conversations of others. Aspergers children often can tell that something is wrong with their interactions with others, and their self-esteem can suffer as a result.
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Comments
5 hours ago via mobile · Like
5 hours ago · Like
For those that don't really understand the whole eye contact thing, at least for me it gives me that same feeling you get when you know your about to ride the scariest roller coaster ever, and its better for me just to look in the general direction of the person, then it is to try and withstand that feeling and still concentrate on what that person is saying and avoid the "fight or flight" feeling that'll develop quickly.
I've had people think i wasn't paying attention to them, I've had people say "I find it hard to trust someone who won't even look you in the face" (That one stung a bit) so I tend to repeat word for word the previous 5 minutes of conversation they've just told me if they do indeed think i'm not paying attention to them.
It's something they'll adapt to over time, and forcing them to do something like that, when it gives them the heebie-jeebies can only end in disaster and at least for me, just reinforced the fact that looking at peoples eyes is a generally bad idea.
But i'll tell you right now, If you have a kid with aspergers syndrome....encourage the positive aspects of it like wanting to absorb particular subjects and things, and just don't fret the little things...they really don't matter in the long run. as long as your supportive, a good parent and there for your child, the rest will fall into place i promise and they'll learn to adapt over time to those social awkwardness types of deals.
4 hours ago · Like
If your neighbors feel "ignored" they can test how much he heard or listened by asking him questions, maybe then they'll start understanding that they aren't being ignored :/
I see it as their problem not the child's.
But I did, for a while try to teach him to look at people by talking with him and tapping my nose tip when he started to look away, that brought his attention back to my face if not eye contact, but it did increase the amounts of times he makes eye contact when talking with people. It took a long time but now he looks at people at least half the time during a conversation without prompt, but it's more for their insecurities and being offended than his own benefit really
3 hours ago · Like
about an hour ago via mobile · Like
It is not in an aspergers childs best interest to ignore people they don't know/kids in the same class/people on the same street/neighbourhood, etc) as in ignoring them by not making eye contact. or ignoring everyday conversations. to live in a society, and to have friends to be able to get by in life. you need to adapt. for example when i reached 6-8th grade(swedish), teenagers started to get more mature conversations not just playing around. And that's when eye contact/ and starting conversations with new classmates was really important. though i didn't see the point in this and i was severely bullied by my entire school. because rumors of my strange behaviors and "meltdowns" because people in my eyes were targeting me for no reason. i was just disinterested in their conversations and avoided social interaction & eye contact all together. didn't see the point in it. Today (25years) im really socially awkward, really tense around crowds. and/or small groups.
"mingling" around with people is like a minefield. i think i would have benefited a lot from learning the importance of social interaction learning specifically WHY it's good to have and what negative influences it may have on my daily life/future social life: people see you as strange,outsider,misfit. You can't change the whole world to fit your child because the world is too big(sorry moms and dads out there! It's unrealistic ;) Your kids will always face new challenges and having the necessary social skills for it is KEY. building up self confidence, and getting them to cut down on solitude time to be more with friends(get them away from computers!) May teach them to see that social interaction has some good things in store even for them..