social club for pre-teens/teens autism/asperger's

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Hi, I am starting a local group in our tiny island for kids pre-teens and teens with autism/asperger's. The intent is not to focus on all the other things that autism groups focus on, but rather for our kids to have a place where they can hang out with other pre-teens and teens just like them. Our kiddos here normally are not invited to birthday parties, normally have to join special needs teams, etc. which means they hardly have "down time or real/true life socialization" to just be themselves.

My son has been begging me to find him some friends and we already have gone out a couple of times to eat (at quiet restaurants, not busy, not with loud music, etc.) and they are enjoying each other's company a lot.

I would appreciate if any pre-teens/teens/adults on the spectrum here could give me some pointers as to what would be important for us to do with our kids. I am thinking outings to a quiet beach, outings to the country side, horseback riding, out to eat at restaurants when they are not crowded, etc…

Any input will be greatly appreciated.

Note this will be for 10-18yr olds mostly, as I think these are very tough times for our kids in general. Again, the intent is for them to be social in their own way and practice their social skills in a way that is not judgmental.

Thanks!

I would try to figure out what everyone's special interests are and maybe have mini field trips or something based on special interests that are held in common. I don't know what you do if you find a few kids that do not overlap with any of them as you would not want them to feel left out, though. You could have multiple mini field trips the same day, if you could manage it, so everyone wa somewhere.

Museums, restaurants, and parks are all good options if you visit at the right time. Avoid Saturdays like the plague, wherever the destination. Restaurants are usually empty around 2 or 3 pm.
If the kids are into trading card games (Pokémon, Magic, etc.) then a gaming session at a member's house could be fun. You could also try Settlers of Catan, or D&D role-playing.
A movie marathon party at someone's house is another idea. Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, etc.

For more ideas, just watch Big Bang Theory. DS enjoys pretty much anything that Sheldon likes (except for Amy Farrah Fowler!).

Great idea!
ASDmommyASDkid: I don't think doing mini trips in a single day is a good idea, this would be too overwhelming. Better one mini trip each day.
YippySkippy: I wouldn't say Sheldon is a good representation of the general aspie interest whatever that is. It is better if the op finds out what the kids he works with like !

Last edited by linatet on 07 Apr 2014, 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

It may very well be too much. It kind of depends on how many adults there are and how flexible the kids are with accepting others' self-interests. If you don't have a lot of overlap you may have too many kids being bored and cranky.

(I say that mainly because I have ONE kid who does not handle it well when doing other people's special interests. her group may have a higher maturity level. ) Ideally, maybe all the kids like one thing (or related things that could be knocked out in one trip.)

Interestingly enough, on our outing just to eat, it was interesting to see that although the kiddos did have different interests, each one talked about them or showed each other something related to their special interest and I think that maybe because they are told so many times to NOT talk about their special interest, they were actually nice to each other and listened to each other. My kiddo even told a mom who told her daughter NOT to talk about her special interest…"it's ok, that's what she likes, she's just trying to tell me about it…" lol

One thing I would suggest, if you have the resources, is have some people who keep an eye on the social skills. There might be learning opportunities for the participants. Of course, you don't want to be the social skills police, but if you identify something, you could always share ideas for improvement in a positive way.

yeah, they would probably get meltdownsy I would.


Learning tolerance is very good. One of the best part of social interactions. We learn that even if the other person is not interested in what we are we have to respect that and be kind and listen to them and like them anyway.
I would also say even if the topic of the conversation or trip is not the special interest, they can always connect something to their special interest.
for instance, if the person likes creating machines, they can think "how can I apply this to my machines?" for instance, they learn about a polynesian tribe's culture, they think "what machine could actually be useful to their way of living?" etc. This is what I do at least, and like me there are tons of very curious aspies that like to learn new things even if not apparently related to the interest.

Last edited by linatet on 07 Apr 2014, 11:44 am, edited 2 times in total.

That's an anecdote, not a generalization.
Also, you misspelled my name.

sorry about that. I was writing in my cellphone and it is REALLY hard to type in it. I am going to fix it.


I also noticed a mistake, in my other post I wrote "kids" but actually they are rughly my age