Problem with social skills class...

iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2005
Problem with social skills class...
3
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 12:14pm

Chase (7yo/AS) started his social skills class last night. I was really excited about it but a little concerned as the therapist doesn't specialize in ASD's but I figured any social skills class could benefit Chase. When he came out of the class I naturally started in on the thousand questions. They will be ending each session with a board game and he said they played a game with witches that cast spells on other players after collecting the special ingredients to make a potion. I was a bit taken aback and asked, somewhat rhetorically, why in the world were you playing a game like that. He informed me that is was because he was too scared to play "skeletons in the closet."

Now I am by no stretch of the imagination a religious zealot but with AS kids you have to be very careful with the type of material you introduce because a cute little game about witches and spells can quickly become an obsession/fixation. I'm going to talk with her nicely and respectfully and ask her to stick to run of the mill kids games. What do you guys think??? Thanks, Vicky

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-09-2005
Thu, 11-03-2005 - 1:05pm

Liam is also in a social skills group, and I know there they try to do things that are both the run of the mill mundane things that we just want our kids to be more skilled about.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 02-24-2005
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 4:13pm
I'm certainly not trying to dictate the approach but I do have to watch the content. I should have prefaced my post with the fact that Chase has an extreme fear of skeletons and all things Halloween which we discussed at length with the therapist which is why I was somewhat taken aback. Vicky
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Sat, 11-05-2005 - 10:44pm

Well, after the first post I was thinking like Dee. It is likely that the leader of the group was using this as something to raise interest in the kids as well as use something other NT kids would be interested in. Plus many will be obsessed with the holiday (don't even get me started. Mike was both scared to death and obsessed at the same time).

However, it is concerning that you had specifically told them this was a problem and they did not take that into account. Honestly, they should have warned you this lesson was coming and either given you the option of sitting out that week or figuring how to work with them to not make it a scary experience. This sounds like one of those instances where they either weren't listening or just thought mom was overprotective and nuts. I HATE when they don't listen to me.

Renee

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