Typical teenagers are usually very enthusiastic about lessons at school on sexuality, due to their own and their peers, developing sexual awareness. Any perceived deficits in formal sexuality education are obtained by private peer group discussion. However, from my clinical experience and recent research studies, this may not be case for those teenage boys and girls with Asperger’s syndrome. They…
Social skills can be described as initiating and reciprocating interactions, understanding non-verbal communication and managing anxiety associated with social interactions. Social skill deficits that have not been addressed can have a long term negative impact on a child's life including difficulties around employment, maintaining friendships and mental health. Social skills development is a frequently implemented intervention for children with ASD. …
There are many aspects of being at school that are challenging and stressful for children and adolescents who have autism. This can lead to school refusal, and a recent research study conducted in Norway has explored the risk of school refusal for students who have autism (Munkhaugen et al. 2017). The study, conducted over a 20 day period, included 216…
As a professional I have observed the increased levels of anxiety and emotion dysregulation young females with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) often experience when camouflaging their social difficulties. This is often most pronounced in school environments and there appears to be qualitative differences in social coping behaviours between young males and females with ASD. To date, few studies have investigated…
The onset of puberty is often a stressful time for adolescents and parents alike, and is typically of particular concern to parents of adolescents with AS. While the ups and downs of puberty are largely unavoidable, there are strategies that parents can put in place to assist their adolescents with AS in learning the ins and outs of sexual development…
The term "mindfulness" has been used to refer to a psychological state of awareness and is defined as a moment-to-moment awareness of one's experience without judgement. Several disciplines and practices can cultivate mindfulness, such as yoga, tai chi and qigong, but most of the literature has focused on mindfulness that is developed through mindfulness meditation. It is believed that regular…
Improving Social Skills through Drama Though drama has long been viewed as a useful way for individuals to improve their ability to read others’ beliefs and intentions, empirical investigation into drama’s effectiveness as a means of social skills training has been fairly limited for quite some time. Two of the greatest issues limiting the effectiveness of social skills training with…
Teenagers who have autism are known to be less physically active than their peers. They tend to have higher levels of obesity, with lower physical fitness scores regarding cardiovascular endurance, upper body and abdominal muscular strength, and endurance and lower body flexibility. Parents recognise that teenagers with autism tend to participate in fewer types of formal and informal physical activities…