For too long, social skills training has largely ignored the neurodiversity perspective.
This needs to change.
Neurological differences in neurodivergent people (such as autistic children, autistic adults, and children and adults with ADHD) are part of the human experience.
Autistic people have a lot to offer the world. They are often creative, intelligent, and deeply compassionate individuals.
However, they often struggle to navigate the neurotypical world due to communication difficulties, sensory issues, and difficulty understanding social cues.
This is why neurodivergent social skills stories can be a helpful tool for autistic individuals of all ages—it can help them to develop the self advocacy skills they need to navigate the neurotypical world.
What are Neurodivergent Affirming Social Skills Stories?
Neurodiverse social skills stories are short stories (usually between 10-20 pages) that depict realistic experiences an autistic individual might encounter.
The story typically includes first-person narrative from the perspective of the autistic character as well as third-person omniscient narration from an outside observer such as a parent, teacher, or therapist.
The purpose of these stories is to provide autistic people with a road map for how they can handle real-life social situations.
They can be used as a tool for teaching self advocacy skills or for helping an autistic individual understand and process their own emotions surrounding a particular social situation.
Why Are Neurodiversity Affirming Practices Important?
All children deserve to see themselves represented in the books they read and the media they consume.
Unfortunately, this is not always the case for autistic children.
In fact, most literature about autism focuses on curing or overcoming autism rather than affirming it as a valid way of being.
This can be damaging to an autistic child's self-esteem and sense of self-worth.
It's important that we start normalizing autism in our society so that all children—neurodivergent or not—can feel represented and valued.
One way we can do this is by creating more content (such as books, movies, TV shows, etc.) that features autistic characters in supportive and affirming roles.
We need to see more positive representations of autism in the media so that children on the spectrum can see themselves reflected back in a positive light.
Autistic people are often creative, intelligent, and deeply compassionate individuals who have a lot to offer the world.
However, they often struggle to navigate the neurotypical world due to communication difficulties, sensory issues, and difficulty understanding social cues.
This is why neurodivergent social skills stories can be a helpful tool for autistic individuals of all ages—it can help them develop the coping skills they need to navigate the neurotypical world.
By creating more content that features autistic characters in supportive and affirming roles, we can help Normalize autism in our society so that all children—neurodivergent or not—can feel represented and valued."