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AuntyCC
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10 Sep 2009, 8:21 am

I'm asking this because the reason I found out I'm probably AS is that I was trying to improve my social skills. I'd really like to sort them out, and one of the things that I was looking for was a course on interaction where it would be like a drama group, only acting out everyday scenes rather than putting on plays.

I was imagining being able to see a video of my face and body language so I can figure out what I do wrong, and practice until I can get it right. I also thought it would be helpful to practice improvised conversation with 3 or 4 people, so I can learn to follow the conversation.

Such a course doesn't exist - when I looked into diagnosis, some of the psychologists offer what they call "social skills training", but I don't see why I need to get a diagnosis to get the training. I'm also unclear if what they offer is what I want. So I thought about organising my own group. Does anyone think that would work, and is there anyone in say UK who would be interested. (Maybe a weekend day session?)



DonkeyBuster
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10 Sep 2009, 12:03 pm

Are you familiar with Paul Ekman and the work he's done on facial expression? He's written a book entitled "Emotions Revealed" and he teaches seminars on facial expression.

He's in the States, but maybe there some leads there for you.
Good luck :!:



polymathpoolplayer
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10 Sep 2009, 12:13 pm

DonkeyBuster wrote:
Are you familiar with Paul Ekman and the work he's done on facial expression? He's written a book entitled "Emotions Revealed" and he teaches seminars on facial expression.


Does the topic of autistic inability to read faces/emote correctly facially come up in his books? if not then what help would that be???



Hmmmn
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10 Sep 2009, 12:19 pm

polymathpoolplayer wrote:
Does the topic of autistic inability to read faces/emote correctly facially come up in his books? if not then what help would that be???


You honestly don't think knowing what facial expressions mean to NTs would be helpfull to people on the spectrum? You don't think you could apply that knowledge to help in your own life in any way?



DonkeyBuster
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10 Sep 2009, 1:06 pm

One of the things that Dr. Ekman found was that NTs (I assume) aren't actually very good at reading each other either... lots of misunderstandings arise from an inability to see and understand small facial clues.

So he teaches people what to look for, as well as how to convey their own message more clearly.

Here's his website...
http://www.paulekman.com/

He even lists 'Interactive Training' on one of his tabs.

Drop the label and expand your mind... 8O



AuntyCC
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10 Sep 2009, 3:46 pm

Thanks for that link, it's interesting. I'm sure lots of people would find it useful.

Myself, I don't have a problem reading other people's facial expressions. It's the one area I score normal to well on.



ladyships
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09 Jun 2013, 11:51 am

I've used Paul Ekman's online training app (SETT 3.0 & METT 3.0) & read all of his books on reading emotion, & I can personally vouch for its helpfulness in helping train me to see facial cues. (It took a few weeks of spending several hours a day doing the trainings, but eventually it worked. At this point, I think I'm actually better at it than many neurotypicals!)

Somewhere, in one his books, he recommends trying to mimic the facial expressions shown using a handheld mirror—THAT was especially important (at least for me). It made a huge difference in how accurate I was during the trainings. I also suspect that my own facial expressions are more accurate now—I used to always get the comment, "What's wrong?" when I was perfectly fine, & I haven't gotten that comment since I did the trainings.

The biggest change I noticed was that all of a sudden I was actually paying attention to people's faces because they actually hold useful information now. Beforehand, eye contact was so insanely uncomfortable! (I used to stare at people's eyebrows if I absolutely had to make eye contact.) Now, I'm looking at faces because they're actually interesting now, & the information that they convey is engaging enough that it distracts me from how uncomfortable eye contact by itself is.

Also, on Ekman's website, in the FAQ, there's this:

Quote:
What training do you recommend for help with Autism or Aspergers Syndrome?
We have had many families ask this question–there is certainly some research going on at this time.
We recommend using the SETT training at a slow speed.
In some instances, this may even be too fast to be effective, in which case we recommend printing the facial expression photos and using them as flash cards. You can find a sequence of full-page photos in the back of Paul Ekman’s book, Emotions Revealed.
METT can be of additional benefit for those with Aspergers or Autism.
In addition, we hope to develop an online training tool specifically for autism. Please keep checking back.


I'm sooo super-excited that they're developing a training tool specifically for those of us on the spectrum! His work is wonderfully useful for us.

P.S. I've always sought out information on body language, ever since I was 10 or 11—even though I wasn't diagnosed with Asperger's until I was 17, I was definitely aware that stuff was happening in social interactions that I simply wasn't picking up on. So, I've read a LOT of stuff written for & by neurotypicals on body language, psychology, conversational speech patterns, lie-detecting, et cetera. All of it has been helpful. So, in short: just because it's not written specifically for folks on the spectrum, that stuff is still insanely useful. I think of it as...this is stuff that neurotypicals just pick up through interactions. For us, we can absolutely still learn it—but our learning process is completely different. We need things to be explicitly stated in order to learn about it. Thank god for academics!

P.P.S. Ekman's work is particularly helpful if you know you have a lot of trouble when somebody says something but means something completely different. You can practice after doing the training by watching character-driven films (like Ingmar Bergman, Richard Linklater, et al).

P.P.P.S. The most fun part of having gone through Ekman's training, I think, is that now, when watching clips from political interviews or speeches, I can usually tell if the politician is lying or being deceptive. Which impresses the NTs, & is very entertaining. :P


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