For Adults on The Autistic Spectrum 1 Session 7: Social Skills - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Employment Workshops For Adults on The Autistic Spectrum

Session 7: Social Skills

• INTRODUCTIONS
• GROUND RULES
• BODY LANGUAGE
• FACIAL EXPRESSIONS
• TONE OF VOICE
• FILM
• EVALUATION

Ground Rules

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What?

• Aim of this session: to improve basic

social interaction skills

• Objectives:
• Understanding some of the verbal and

visual techniques used by non-autistic people in social situations e.g at work

• Learning of basic conversation skills

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Why bother to develop our conversation skills for work?

• To fit in better at work and improve your

ability to work with your colleagues as part

• f a team
• To avoid becoming a target which can be a

threat to your job

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Why bother to develop our conversation skills for work?

• To understand what not to talk about in a

work situation

• To know when it is better to keep quiet
• To develop confidence when talking to

your colleagues and your manager

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Conversations without words

• Lots of conversation relies on facial

expressions and body language

• Some people will be able to recognise

these but others will not

• It is possible to learn the more obvious

by rote, but should you have to?

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Conversations

• Is it solely the responsibility of the

employer and work colleagues to accept the person on the Autism Spectrum as he/she is?

• Does the person on the spectrum have

some responsibility to learn basic social interaction skills?

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• It may be hard to know what other

people are thinking or feeling because they do not tell you, often to avoid hurting your feelings

• Many people on the Spectrum are not

able to read facial expressions, body language or gestures

Possible Difficulties

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• Many people on the spectrum do not

generalise learning and so it may be necessary to practise techniques until they become automatic

• If you can’t read body language, you

might misinterpret what the person is saying because body language tends to be truer than words

Possible Difficulties

Body Language

• Experimental evidence suggests that

people on the Spectrum process visual information differently. This means facial expressions and body language can cause problems.

• Communication statistics:

Tone of Voice: 38% Body Language: 55% Words: 7%

Open Body Language

• Arms not crossed, maybe held shoulder

width apart, hands open, not clenched into fists

• Legs not crossed, often parallel or slightly

apart

• Head directed to other person or looking

around from time to time

Open Body Language

• Eye contact relaxed and prolonged (look

at mouth or forehead if you can look in person’s direction but not at the eyes)

• Clothes may be loosened eg jacket

unbuttoned

• Body relaxed and facing you

Example: Job Interviews

• Shake hands firmly
• Smile when you meet the interviewer(s)

and, in moderation, during the interview

• Make eye contact with the questioner. If it

is a panel interview make sure that you include each member when you answer by looking at them as well, but spend most of the time directing your answer to the questioner

Example: Job Interviews

• Sit upright, but comfortably, rather than

leaning forward or backward. Don’t be afraid to shift position from time to time

• Try not to fidget - keep your hands on

your lap but do use them to illustrate an answer where appropriate

• Keep hand movements under control

and don't make them too flamboyant

Closed Body Language

• One or both arms cross central line – may

be folded or tightly clasped

• Legs crossed in several different ways
• Head inclined away or tilted downwards

Closed Body Language

• Fidgeting: implies you are not

communicating or focused on what is being said

• Leaning or turning away
• Little eye contact

Facial Expressions

• There are approximately 3000 facial

expressions

• They can change from moment to moment
• Some people on spectrum can read them,

some can’t

Facial Expressions

• Some can read only the very obvious ones

like happy, sad, angry, scared, & others can’t read them at all

• Non-autistic people recognise facial

expressions intuitively while people on spectrum sometimes have to analyse them in order to understand them

Facial Expressions

• People may use a facial expression which

is different from the emotion felt, e.g. a smile may be genuine or faked

• It would be useful to recognise smiles and

frowns

Facial Expressions

• Smile: upward turning of corners of mouth.
• Genuine smiles have crinkling around

eyes.

• False smiles are just the mouth
• Frown: wrinkling of brow

Tone of Voice

• People on the spectrum sometimes have a

monotonic voice and may not recognise different tones in other people

• Generally a smooth, low tone is calm and

a louder, higher (and faster speech) may show that the person is excited, angry or in a rush.

When can you start a conversation?

As a group let’s come up with some possible times and ways to start a conversation and some bad times and some wrong ways

Conversations

There are times when you shouldn’t begin a conversation e.g. when being trained, at a meeting, at a lecture, when the person you want to talk to is on the phone, when the person is having a work-related talk to someone else If you get it wrong because the person does not want you to talk, just say “Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb you”, or “Can I speak to you later?” or if it’s someone you know, “Oops, I’ve done it again!”

Conversations

If you want to start a conversation, what should you do?

• Make eye contact (or look at nose or mouth)
• Smile and if it’s a new person to you shake

hands

• Use open body language

Conversations

• First impressions count.
• People make up their minds about you within

just a few minutes of meeting you.

• Remember that these are what the other

person will be doing if they would like to speak to you.

Conversations

• Say “Hi” or “Hello” etc,
• Make a comment about the weather, subject
• f meeting etc as appropriate
• Remember “Hi, how are you?” actually just

means “Hello” they don’t want your medical history and what the doctor said. Just say “fine” even if you aren’t.

Conversations

How do you keep a conversation going?

• Let the other person talk for about half of

the time. A great conversationalist is often really a great listener.

• Listen to what the other person is saying

rather than just preparing what you are going to say

Conversations

How do you keep a conversation going?

• Avoid talking about your special interest at

work unless it is very relevant to the task, and if you do, keep it short

• If you want to speak, make eye contact,

and ask a question or make a comment, try not to jump in.

Conversations

How do you know when it is your turn to speak?

• When the other person’s body language

becomes more open eg turning towards you

• When the gestures become fewer

Conversations

How do you know when it is your turn to speak? When the person’s hand(s) points towards you with the palm facing upwards

• When you are asked a question eg “What

do you think?”

Conversations

If you want to end a conversation, what should you do?

• Make less eye contact
• Look at watch or at exit
• Start moving away
• Pack up, and maybe put your coat on
• Just say e.g. “I must go now”

Conversations

If the other person wants to end the conversation they will do the same:

• Make less eye contact
• Look at watch or at exit
• Start moving away
• Pack up, and maybe put their coat on
• Just say e.g. “I must go now”

Conversations

• You need to be aware of these signs in the
• ther person if it is you that is talking.
• Try to remember how you can tell if the

person you are speaking to is trying to end the conversation.

• A work conversation is usually short, you

are there to work.

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Social Skills

• Learning the theory is fine, But just one

session is not enough. You have to practise again and again in a wide variety

• f situations until the techniques became

automatic.

• Remember why you need to learn these

techniques for work – they may well be essential for you to keep your job.

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Social Skills

• Try to practise with people you know and
• trust. Don’t just walk up to strangers.
• Ask friends or relatives to help you as they

can give feedback and help you.

• A stranger may be alarmed if you get it

wrong.

FILM TIME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFTodyES7Gs FUN WITH FLAGS STARRING SHELDON COOPER

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Now it’s time to try out your new skills!

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Evaluation

How has this session gone for you ? Did you contribute ? Were you listened to ? Did you feel comfortable ? Have you found out anything new ? Is there anything we need to change for next time?