3 Things Autistic Individuals Can Do to Level up Their Social Skills

For many of us, happiness is the ultimate goal. We all want to live fulfilled, content lives, filled with joy and personal satisfaction. This means building strong relationships with those around us, forging close friendships and establishing social bonds with those in our personal and professional lives.

For individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), establishing social bonds can be challenging. Many suffer from high levels of social anxiety and struggle to see social interaction in a positive light. The good news is that there are strategies and methods to improve your social skills. Many focus on basic social skills, including the reading and controlling of body language, and strategies for managing conflict.

For more information, consider six-week job training for autistic adults to improve social skills and develop strategies to manage social anxiety and improve workplace readiness.

Model Social Interactions

As young children, we learn through observation. We watch our parents and adults around us interact with the world around them, note their responses to stimuli, and mimic those responses.

As adults, observation can be a valuable method of learning social skills. For example, before a job interview, watching a variety of candidates conducting job interviews can be a good way of learning how to conduct yourself in front of a potential employer. Consider the candidate’s body language, tone, appearance, and facial expressions. Then attempt to mimic them.

Practice

Social skills are the same as any other skill. The more you practice; the better you become at socializing. Once you have learned a new skill, try it out in the real world. Keep working on it and observe the responses you get. If people give warm responses to your social cues, chances are it is a positive technique and will generate good responses in social scenarios.

If you are not ready to practice your facial expression, body language, tonal modifications or vernacular on another human being, maybe you will be more comfortable practising in front of a mirror, or with a pet?

Try Improv

Improv is an exercise many aspiring actors undertake. Short for improvisation, actors practice social situations with other actors in a series of real-life simulations.

These exercises are a great way for autistic individuals to gain confidence when socializing in a low-risk setting. Find scenarios where you might find it difficult to express yourself, for example when talking to a stranger, asking a co-worker for help with a problem, or dealing with a difficult customer. Then get someone you trust to play the role of the other person.

Without planning what you are going to say, or writing a script, you will have to make yourself understood and react to what the other person says, exactly as you would in a real-world scenario. The other person can then offer feedback, reinforcing what you did well and providing some areas to improve on to improve communication.

These strategies can help rapidly improve real-world social skills and build the confidence of those with ASD in a non-threatening, safe environment.