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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Any other teen struggling with this? I think it’s natural progression of HS and people growing apart from MS friendships but teen taking it hard. [b]How do I support this and encourage new friendships?[/b] [/quote]

I think that depends on how disabled they are. If they are mildly socially disabled, just reiterate that it's normal and encourage them to continue to participate in activities with peers related to their interests. Be "helpful"; offer to host the sleepover or be the driver/chaperone for whatever event they want to go to if they are not driving yet.

If they are more socially disabled, you may also have to find specific activities for them involving teens at a similar social level. My teen with autism has no behavior challenges but he does have LD and emotionally is at least 2-3 years behind NT peers. He is 17 but has made friends aged 15-19 through a couple of activities that involve ND teens and also teens who are cool with ND (usually because they have a sibling on the spectrum). There is no way he could just plop down in a group of public school NT 17 year olds and make friends. He did have NT friends in elementary school but by middle school they were drifting apart. I gave him the same "it's normal" talk but I could see what the issue was so I also started trying to find other places for him to make friends. I've been way more hands on about it than parents of NT teens are: looking for clubs and groups; messaging other parents to suss out the vibe and see if it might be a good fit, etc. People on these boards will call you a helicopter but the truth is if you have a kid who isn't ready for social independence and you expect them to make friends completely independently, they will likely have no friends.

Also, as he's gotten older I've talked to him more explicitly about his diagnosis and pointed out that NT teens were often interested in things that he wasn't interested in yet, like dating and college, and that he might find he had more in common with teens on the spectrum. This was helpful in encouraging him to actually try some of these activities I found.[/quote]

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