DS has a new teacher for the rest of the year. She's very opinionated, and she has more experience than his last teacher. She also has an adult son with Aspergers. She called me at home to express some concerns she has with DS' IEP goals and his behavior plan. It was really nice to hear a different opinion. She mentioned how she used to teach social skills classes at a private clinic. I told her we were looking into a private social skills program for DS and she immediately said to avoid social skills classes. She said the last thing DS needs is more rules and that he should be taught social skills organically in playdates and other activities like sports. She said if we do a weekly social skills class his mannerisms will become too rote and unnatural. I asked her if she used MGW in the classroom, and she said she has but they don't use the formal program at his current school (or any specific curriculum for that matter). She said they work theory of mind exercises into daily lessons, like when they were working on summarizing a Curious George story they read they filled in thought bubbles of the characters and talked about it in terms of what the characters were thinking.
Thoughts? Would there ever be a circumstance where a child wouldn't benefit from a social skills class? I'll be honest, the thought of taking DS to weekly Karate or gymnastics classes seems a lot more appealing than a social skills class.
Edit to add: he's in kindy, pdd-nos
Re: Teacher does not recommend social skills therapy??
True- not much. I can't think of any "team" sport DS would enjoy or find success with. He hates most sports in general but likes to swim and has expressed some interest in karate and gymnastics.
He'll also have Scouts next year, come to think of it.
DD1, 1/5/2008 ~~~ DD2, 3/17/2010