Social Opportunities For Adults
by Alison B. Bourdeau Ph.D. | Sunday, Jun 17, 2018
Social opportunities for adults on the autism spectrum is an incredibly timely topic. As a clinician with FAU’s Center for Autism, one of my areas of focus is social relationships for adults. I currently run two adult social groups out of Northern Palm Beach County, one specific to young women, and the other being a mixed-gender social group. I have seen the success in providing an opportunity for young adults to connect and network. The two main issues impacting young adults are the ability to socially connect are access and an ecologically valid skill set.
One of the reasons why finding these opportunities becomes more challenging as the constituent ages is access. When children are of school age, they will naturally be gathering at schools. Schools provide the meeting point in which individuals with disabilities and their non-disabled peers have an opportunity to communicate, connect, and intermingle. There are opportunities across several settings; the classroom, the lunchroom, as well as extra-curricular activities. As children age, the impetus to interact and connect becomes more self-directed and less adult-directed.
For individuals who have challenges in social communication and interaction, this can be when the benefits of making a social connection are outweighed by the cost of potential rejection. Once the common ground of the school is lost, it can become more challenging to find individuals who have common interests, which is the basis from which all friendships begin. Consider it like a flower as it blooms. As it opens up to come to full bloom, the petals are no longer as connected and they are stretching out in different directions. As children age, they become more interest-specific and less connected. If you have not already established relationships, you will need to actively seek them out based upon common interests. If you are a young adult who is attending high school or college, you still have that home base to work from. If you are an adult who is currently employed, this may be more of a challenge.
The goal would be to provide meaningful, consistent, opportunities for young adults to practice their skills of social communication and interaction in ecologically valid scenarios.