Social Skills
Dear Aspie: How Do I Repond Quickly in Conversation?
By Alex Plank on March 13, 2006
Dear Aspie:?When someone bullies you, teases you in public, gives you a compliment in public, or some other situation where you have to respond or defend yourself, how does one respond quickly? Are there any tips for this, or ways to train this??
--hybrid
Read on for GroovyDruid's Response!
Dear Aspie: How to Handle Unexpected Conversation?
By Alex Plank on February 9, 2006
Dear Aspie:?How do you cope with unknown people talking to you? I find all this very stressful. How do you know how to respond??
--androidbeing
Read on for GroovyDruid's response!
Dear Aspie: Awkward Silences in Conversation
By Alex Plank on January 25, 2006
Dear Aspie:"How do you work around the inevitable awkward silences that happen to all aspies? When flirting or otherwise?"
--AbominableSnoCone
More often than not, awkward silences are the result of awkward questions. Aspies often have a hard time understanding this, but it is true.
Read on for GroovyDruid's entire response!
Researchers may have found a single cause for social blindness in aspies and aut
By Alex Plank on December 25, 2005
Using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), a team lead by Mirella Dapretto found that test subjects on the autism spectrum have virtually no activity in the mirror neuron section of their brains, whereas NTs of comparable age and intelligence had abundant activity.Mirror neurons are the “duplication” neurons in the brain. The neurons activate when an NT performs a goal-oriented task. They also activate in exactly the same way...
THE SECRETS OF PROJECTING SUCCESSFUL BODY LANGUAGE
By Alex Plank on December 19, 2005
Imagine for a moment that you are sitting across from an interviewer for a job. But you and the interviewer are not alone: a thin, evil-looking demon sits beside you. You say, “I’m excited at the prospect of joining this company--”But the demon interjects: “No, you are bored and unmotivated.” This scenario happens every day to countless aspies everywhere. The demon of improper body language frustrates all sorts of personal...
The Secrets of Successful Smalltalk
By Alex Plank on December 6, 2005
An aspie friend of mine said recently, ?I hate it when people ask me, ?So how?s it going?? People go around asking the same question to each other over and over at parties. It?s phony and ludicrous.?By now, it should be growing evident that ?small talk? ranks up with the world?s great misnomers. There?s nothing small about it. It is one of the most complex and important activities humans practice. They meet and scope one another?s...
Second Life Teaches Life Lessons
By Alex Plank on April 6, 2005
As a massively multiplayer online game, many people think of Second Life as little more than a virtual playground. But an increasing number of people and organizations are employing the game in applications that are useful for far more than entertainment.Mahay's charges spend their in-world time on the small island known as Brigadoon, a place created for sufferers of autism and Asperger's syndrome to try out the social interactions that are...
Virtual world teaches real-world skills
By Alex Plank on March 1, 2005
If home is where the heart is, then home for a dozen people with Asperger Syndrome could be a 16-acre island blessed with lush gardens and rolling green hills.The island is called "Brigadoon," but unlike its literary namesake, this place is real — or real enough in a 21st century way. "Brigadoon" belongs to a public virtual world called "Second Life," a popular online 3-D environment frequented by tens of thousands of users.
Group Social Situations
By Alex Plank on February 14, 2005
Sometimes, it is possible to have conversations which reflect well on yourself when you are speaking with only one other person. When other people start joining into a group, however, it is easy to inadvertently start dominating a conversation and thus cause others to become annoyed and possibly even think of you as arrogant (this happens to me sometimes). If you have a friend, or even a good acquaintance who is aware of your social...Camp Helps Children Conquer Social Disabilities
By Alex Plank on July 29, 2004
The Washington Post Reports:Liam has Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism in which a child functions at a high level. He loves his teachers in school, reads incessantly and performs well in math. But making friends is hard, so he is often lonely at his Arlington school and seldom talks about his classmates, his father said.
After coming home from Take 2, Liam, who had no close friends, talked about camp and friends he had made there.
"He...
