Do social skills workshops actually help?

amother

OP ↓

Today at 11:22 am

I think ds6 could use some help with his social skills. Saw an ad for a social skills workshop but not sure if it’ll actually teach him something? Trying to imagine once a week, one hour, with a group changing behaviors…

mha3484

Today at 11:24 am

No I don't think they work. What helped my kid was 1) super flex by Michelle Garcia Winner and 2) his therapist coming to school at recess time, pinpointing where my son was getting in his own way and then teaching him the skills he was missing.

amother

Phlox

Today at 1:45 pm

Another vote for no Smile

my daughter took classes for a while. Absolutely no help.

amother

Nectarine

Today at 1:46 pm

I haven't noticed that they do.

amother

↑ OP

Today at 1:51 pm

amother Phlox wrote:

Another vote for no Smile

my daughter took classes for a while. Absolutely no help.

So what does?

amother

Iris ↓

Today at 1:52 pm

Honestly I think it takes years of daily therapy to teach a child social skills. Especially because there is usually more than one reason they struggle. My daughter is 13. There is a cognitive delay. Then there is a maturity delay. And lastly she has adhd with no filter. My son is 8. He understands everything but struggles to express himself. He struggles to process information and to respond in a timely fashion. He also is rather rigid and gets upset when others don't follow the rules. These are 2 very different kids who both struggle socially. She gets daily help. We started aba for him 2 years ago and it is slowly helping. You need to first figure out why the kid is struggling before you can help him or her. Do not expect the child to dramatically change. Most people who struggle socially will always struggle because their brains work differently than average.

Lovelife3

Today at 2:06 pm

The only way it helps if it’s generalized in the child’s environment. Otherwise it’s just another lesson like math or science. They will know the rules but will not learn how to apply it to their life.

amother

Aster

Today at 3:01 pm

Didn't help my son with ADHD. He knew what to do, just was impulsive.

I was told afterwards that it's good for kids who don't know the rules. Not for kids who know them and have trouble following them.

amother

Lightcyan

Today at 3:05 pm

I will be the voice of dissent. I think they were helpful for my son who did it for 2 years along with other help. As a prior poster wrote, it was good for teaching rules in a group setting. The person running the group was a social worker who has been doing this for decades.

amother

Topaz

Today at 3:13 pm

I think so much of social skills is intuitive it's impossible to teach that

amother

↑ Iris

Today at 3:15 pm

amother Topaz wrote:

I think so much of social skills is intuitive it's impossible to teach that

That's why I said it important to realize you can't change the person. However, depending on the intelligence of the person, you can teach them enough to get by.

amother

Jetblack ↓

Today at 3:21 pm

Lovelife3 wrote:

Okay but my ASD kids don't know the rules, they need to be frontally taught. And what I'm realizing is that I don't know how to put all the rules into words or even properly identify them. So I do want to find a social skills group.

Like my DD didn't realize that when someone says "ow" you should say "are you okay?" I had to tell her but then she realizes that yes this is how we do it so she says that.

It didn't click for her that everyone brushes their hair before they walk out of the house, she thought this was my random rule. Her shadow told her (thanks, she didn't believe me) and now she understands and implements.

DS didn't realize that you don't stand 5mm from someone else (DD did realize), I had to explain and he still didn't get it so I told him to count tiles on the floor for distance and that's what he does when he remembers/ when I remind him, he looks down at the floor and counts the tiles.

My niece who I think is also ASD did a social skills group and it REALLY helped her, before that she didn't know how to have a conversation of any sort, now she does. She is still socially off but she's got a lot more skills than she used to have.

If you want friends or just in general to get along in life you need to know the rules of society. Now if the issue isn't that you don't know the rules but that you can't implement them for some reason then maybe social skills class won't help. But if you don't know the rules then I think it definitely should help, especially if there is motivation to learn how to get along with others.

Bottom line it really depends on why your kid lacks social skills...

amother

Cerise

Today at 3:23 pm

I was wondering too. It’s the new popular thing to offer.

amother

↑ Jetblack

Today at 3:25 pm

amother Topaz wrote:

I think so much of social skills is intuitive it's impossible to teach that

Pretty sure this depends 100% on the person's intelligence.