Social skills training, love it or hate it?

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Ok, so I am aware that there are various kinds of social skills training. What I want to know is your opinion on social skills training, and your experiences.

Personally, I dislike social skills training. I have one to one sessions at the moment, and my trainer is quite possibly the chattiest person I've ever known. She goes on and on with her long stories about what has happened to her .
Also, in the introductory meeting with her I couldn't tell her much about my interests! I usually go for a minimum of five minutes when discussing my interests but she didn't even give me chance to say what they were .
I hate things that I don't understand! It's just so very confusing and frustrating .

That's a nice avatar! =)

Social skills training... let's see. Well I have only attended training sessions directed by myself. There are great teachers out there, but so few who can actually level with an Aspie, you know? We can either resolve to develop our own skills on our own time, or submit to someone who may know what they are doing, or not. I choose the former.

If you observe NT's and their mannerisms... then it'll start to click. There's no note-taking, there's no BS. It's you taking a personal journey through motivation and ambition: you want to be more social, so you let yourself learn hands-on, in an unscripted enviroment.

- D

I take courses on social skills. I don't want to be lonely, but because of my poor social skills I don't have much of a choice. You can't learn social skills just by watching the NTs, and you can't learn to drive just by watching someone drive.

twinklingstarlight Social skills training really is not for me, have only tried a councilor once and total waste of time and yes it does depend on who you see. I ended up I feel helping them.

Can work for some, but good family support or friends can be so much better if have. Thats why I encourage all parents with children on the spectrum to encourage friendships from an early age, peers groups etc are vital.

Mu neighbor has an extremely autistic child and she does not like this training, has found can be a little robotic..

We all have to find what works best for us and if you can get support from someone who really understands, but far and few between. I really do not need an NT telling me to act like them. I feel we need to embrace our differences and learn its ok to just be nad stop letting society presurre us to change.

Yes I know some of you need that extra support, social skills training and thats ok, but do not feel you have to have if diagnosed, we are all different.

Are these social skills classes for adults? I didn't realize that was available. I've taken my 11 year old to social skills classes for about three years, but it was in a class with five to 12 other kids. It was helpful, to a point.

Kris

schleppenheimer, I believe they are available for adults. However I'm not aware of how to find them.
I got my social skills through learning support at my college.

are you given the opportunity to give feedback to your 'tutor?'? it may be helpful to you if you can express what you have told us to them. i am sure that they want to do a good job, so you may need to help them to do that.

this is a very interesting topic, i do hope you keep us posted

I attend a social group for teens with AS.

I like it as there is no pressure to "act normal"...we can be ourselves but at the same time, learn to communicate better.

I like it, it makes me feel like I'll be able to have someone in my life after all.

I HATE SOCIAL SKILLS GROUPS!

i agree that the trainer wont stop talking.

and im stuck an a room for an hour or so with a bunch of people that i dont want to talk to and bieng forced to talk to them.

For those of you asking about adult training any psychologist worth her/his salt should be able to provide this to you. This is one of the many skills they are suppose to have. They can teach you in different situations how to act or what to say.

I've been getting social skills training through my psych. Have also have lessons through a speech pathologist however I hated her lessons because it was just having to read plays and comedy skits and put emotion into the voice. I found that revolting and I made her mad pointing out that the sexist humor in the skit. She also sounded like such a "put on" trying to dramatize her voice. I always hated drama and acting crap; its so phony.

The social skills training I remember getting was for kids with behavior problems or who have issues. We all learned about problem solving and passive, aggressive, and assertive behavior.
We also role played and we all had to say if it was passive, assertive or aggressive and then we had to do our roleplaying. One of us would be the bully and the other had to figure out how to handle it the assertive way. I found it a lot of fun. Also the fun part was we got chips (poker chips) for participation and for getting the answers correct or for trying. Then we use them to trade them in for prizes the doctor had for us. We were also allowed to save our chips by keeping them in a cup with our names on it. Then that class ended so I was put in another class and it was ran by a different doctor and this time, there were no chips and prizes and it was done in a room next door to the room I used to have my session in. We ended up with work sheets too and we had role playing but we mixed it up with passive assertive aggressive. I didn't really like the class because it wasn't as fun as the other one and the fact we get stuck in rush hour on the way home and be late for my TV show or miss it because the traffic be so bad. My parents never thought about putting in a blank VHS tape and setting the show to record at six.

hmm...I went to social skills training this past summer. I was ok with it, they teach you how things should generally go and its up to you whether to follow them or not. It did help me a little, not a whole lot. These skills would've been very helpful if I had taken this course 2 years ago then maybe I could've avoided the many mistakes I made or at least tried. For me to truly learn a social skill I need to experiance it for it to make sense.