Teen in denial mode, refusing social interaction, any tips?

Post Reply New Topic

Dear All,

I am parent of 15yr old HFA with main issues being inattention and OCPD traits.
Since last year my son seems to be in denial mode and is shying away from social interactions.
With the growing gap between him and NTs he lost all NT friends, but a few kids who have a bit of disability and like him, he will not interact with them saying he does not like to interact with disabled kids. Tried to take him to some activities organized by ASPENNJ but he refused to
go saying he does not want to participate with disabled kids. We think some organized activities (something like summitcamp.com) will be useful for him, but he refuses to go for any such thing. He wants to be friends with only NT kids, but gets pushed away quickly due to his lacking social behavior. We had a therapist coming into the house for one year. After a few months he stopped cooperating with therapist due to his obsessive nature (he wants do what he wants) and due to his thinking that nothing is wrong with him.

So parents please, in case you had been thru this you have any practical tips to deal with this type of situation, please do share.

Thanks,
Raky

Probably not what you want to hear, but you can't make a child socialize if he doesn't want to. The only way is if you can convince him of the benefits. If you can convince him that by "practicing" with children that are willing to interact with him, he can learn the skills necessary to interact with the kids he does want to befriend, you might have a shot.

Has he either been newly diagnosed or newly aware of a diagnosis? If so there may be some denial there that has to be dealt with first. If he thinks he is NT or has a negative image of autism then that would explain him not wanting to interact with the "disabled" kids. Or this might happen if he perceives there to be a much larger gap between him and the other kids in the program and him and the NT kids, if that makes sense.

Have you thought about clubs and organizations related to any special interest he has. Then he has the buffer of the interest for social interactions, and its not about being disabled.