PP, for God's sake, there isn't a "miracle cure" for social skills. Stop sitting on your butt, wringing your hands, and doing nothing. You seem to hang everything on one psychiatrist who did your neuropsych eval. There is research out the wazoo saying social skills trumps even academics. Even the social skill researchers are aging...
Intervention makes a difference. Get with the times. |
| I think you are confusing social skill with social skill groups. Social skill is very important. All Pp was saying is that there are no long term studies on any of these approaches. that is a fact. |
I didn't say We were doing nothing. DS has been getting instruction in social skills since he got a diagnosis, social skills groups and pragmatic speech therapy With SLP since he was 4 yrs old. He is now 7. Interestingly, his cousin who has the same diagnosis and similar neuropsych profile but who is 10 yrs old has not gotten any of these interventions and is doing fine. Mostly, his parents have been encouraging him in his obsessive interests which is chess and the Rubik's cube rather than spending time in social skills groups. He is currently ranked #1 in their state for chess and #1 in the nation for the Rubik's cube for his age group. His social skills are still poor but he is admired and has many friends at his school (granted it's a school where one's chess and Rubik's cube prowess is admired. ).
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| Being #1 as a Rubik's Cube champion, isn't the same thing as "doing fine." |
He has friends at school and gets excellent grades: If that's not doing fine, please tell what is. |
from what you said, at "a school where one's chess and Rubik's cube prowess is admired..." any other place, he'd be a candidate for a swirly. Think long term. |
He currently goes to a public charter school for kids with IQs 130+ which goes to 8th grade. My brother plans to send him to an elite private eastern boarding school for hs. Nephew use to play travel soccer but his current sport obsession is football. It's doubtful he'll ever be a candidate for a swirly (even if he is good at chess). |
I'm sure you're very proud of Justin, but most kids aren't with language disorders/social skill deficits aren't child prodigies. |
We're proud of him but he isn't a prodigy. The point of my post was that I'm not sure how much social groups help (and unlike my nephew, we've been doing them for yrs and will be doing with no end in sight even though I doubt they help much - at least with my kid). |
Social skills help in the long term; that's been well established. It is a never ending slog at this age. Your nephew is the exception to the rule now and probably in the future. I wouldn't compare. |
Many people especially the ones that run social skills groups say this but there aren't any long term studies that show this. Our neuropsych who recommended social skills groups for our DS admitted this and he is a scientist/researcher who works in this field. |
Thanks. You said it much more succinctly than I did. |
| So, back to the original post, which is about a 13 year old. OP, does your son have an actual diagnosis? You said he has no IEP or 504. How long ago was his evaluation? To what extent do his communication issues seem to affect his daily functioning? |
Not the previous poster, but if he is ranked no 1. in chess in his state, I think he is a prodigy. I do think the earlier years are the hardest for these super smart but not equally socially skilled kids. Once they are older, they are more likely to be able to find their niche and thrive in a career that is well suited to them. |
I wonder about how effective these groups will be- my DS8 is starting in social skills therapy, literally next week. It is both expensive and time consuming . We are doing it because I don't want to regret not doing it. My DS also has some language impairments (social pragmatics) and it looks like some executive function deficits on top of it. I think DS's impulsiveness and obsessive nature may hinder his efforts to interact more naturally. We'll see. |