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Category: School-Age Kids

What’s the Point of Social Skills?

What’s the Point of Social Skills?

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Just to be clear, despite the title, I’m not questioning the idea that social skills are real or useful. No, instead I’m asking why social skills are useful.  What is their purpose? It’s not a pointless or stupid question, because I can think of at least a couple of good answers: They are useful for building and maintaining friendships, social connections that are valuable because of their inherent worth; or They are useful for instrumental social interactions: for use in…

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Falsifiability, Resources, and School Placements

Falsifiability, Resources, and School Placements

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I want to deal with a possible objection to my views on educational placement (which you can find described here). I think the universal inclusionists – those who want all children to be educated in the mainstream – use rhetorical trickery to paper over the weaknesses in their arguments.  They define “inclusion” as being a state in which all students are meaningfully and fully included as part of a mainstream school community.  Any case where a student is not meaningfully…

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Rational Paranoia

Rational Paranoia

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Dealing with autistic adults and adolescents can sometimes be difficult.  I know many of us can be quick to take offense, even where none was intended – which is rather curious when you think about it, because autistic children tend to start out being socially naïve.  At some point, these naïve children can become nervous, reactive adults.  Why is that?  It seems kind of like a transformation from one extreme to the opposite extreme. Well, the problem with naïveté is…

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Inclusion and Mainstreaming: What is To Be Done?

Inclusion and Mainstreaming: What is To Be Done?

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Over the last few months, I’ve written a lot of posts sharing my thoughts on inclusion and mainstreaming.  In those posts, I’ve spent a lot of time complaining about the way things are done today (especially in North America), but I’ve spent relatively little time describing the urgent changes I think we need. Probably the most complete description of my thoughts so far is found in this post, where I explain how I disagree with both of the major views…

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The Meaning of Inclusion

The Meaning of Inclusion

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On this blog, I’ve spent a lot of time criticizing the idea that everyone should be forced to attend mainstream schools, regardless of whether they want to or not.  In doing so, I’ve sometimes suggested that I am opposed to “inclusion” itself, but that’s not exactly correct.  Previously, I’ve never really unpacked the difference between the concepts of mainstreaming or integration and the concept of inclusion, even though there is a very important distinction between them.  I want to clarify…

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Social Skills and Practice

Social Skills and Practice

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How do we learn social skills?  Practice. Let’s think about what is involved in a social interaction.  You have to make countless, split-second decisions.  You have to formulate and deliver conversational responses instantly.  While you do this decision-making, you have to pay constant attention to your body’s position, your facial expressions, and you are expected to make eye contact with the other person.  You have to attend to their expressions and nonverbal cues.  You have to think about their intentions…

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Independence in Specialized Schools

Independence in Specialized Schools

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I have some serious doubts about the mainstream schools.  I worry about bullying in the mainstream schools, social isolation in the mainstream schools, social skills in the mainstream schools, mental health in the mainstream schools, and sensory distress in the mainstream schools, among other things.  Because of all of these problems with the mainstream, I think we need alternative options. But I will admit to some worries about specialized schools as well.  They do have some of their own problems,…

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Media Normalization of Violence and Marginalization

Media Normalization of Violence and Marginalization

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Why do we allow mockery of autistic and neurodivergent people? If you look at our media today, it seems to accept the idea that awkwardness and difference can be a source of amusement.  We’re routinely invited to laugh at neurodivergence and mock it.  We’re invited to laugh at the class nerd, or the crazy professor, or some other stereotyped neurodivergent character.  We’re even taught that awkward kids will get bullied: such bullying is often presented as entirely natural and predictable. …

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Independence: Preparation for Transition (Part I)

Independence: Preparation for Transition (Part I)

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Transition to adulthood is a daunting challenge.  In transition to adulthood, we fall off a cliff.  We suddenly find the predictable environments that have surrounded us changing, and we enter new and different environments.  In these new environments, we encounter new expectations, new demands.  In these new environments, our familiar support systems fall away, and we find ourselves struggling to advocate for ourselves within an unfamiliar and inadequate set of adult service systems. Seriously, if you have a group of…

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Sensory Sensitivities in the Mainstream School

Sensory Sensitivities in the Mainstream School

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It’s been a whole ten days since my last criticism of the mainstream schools, so I think it’s about time I got back to it.  As I argued earlier, this is an extremely important issue – where someone spends their days for the duration of their school career is going to have a bigger influence than any limited, short-duration set of intervention sessions. The sensory demands of the mainstream schools are one of the biggest challenges they impose on us. …

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