Our 13-year-old daughter has recently been diagnosed with non-verbal learning disorder, and we’re now thinking of following up with some testing of her social perceptions as this has long seemed to be an issue for her (she seems a little “off” socially, seems to stand out to other children when she’s in group situations, and has never had a friend). What sort of test would we need for info on social pragmatics, and what sort of expert would administer it?
We are currently home schooling her and I need to get some objective information on where I need to start. We went to the Christmas Eve service last night and she was in a bad mood and so cried all through it; she does this whenever she is stressed and seems unable to distinguish between public and private situations. She’s a sweet girl but she has trouble making those connections somehow, and when she’s in group situations her behavior turns off the other kids (she talks too loudly, or says something just a little “off” [not mean, just odd — such as she’ll say “no problem” when someone says she looks nice today]). It’s hard to get her exposed to social situations because she has gross and fine motor problems (not good at sports) and her processing, especially non-verbal, is extremely slow (she can’t think on her feet so when the other kids run off to do something, she hesitates and is lost). I just don’t know what to do.
Sandy
social skills
i have a 12 year old with the same issues. our school counselor is starting a social skills class, I just hope it helps.
Re: Social pragmatics? Evaluation maybe?
Hi DJ.
Our middle school has a general social skills class that they teach over recess. One accesses it by asking the school councilor. Its not commonly known about; I don’t know why. All of our elementary schools also have one although I didn’t know about that until *after* we were out of the elementary years.
So, first step, ask the school councilor.
If your child has an IEP it can be made part of the plan and then they have to let your child into it.
Otherwise, I’ve found that special programs have such things for their population. For example, the autism society here offers social skills for those on the spectum, the federally funded parent education center here (which deals a lot with ED children) has one for ED kids, our local advicacy group for the mentally reterded has one for MR adults….
Good luck!
Barb
Sandy, she sounds a lot like my 10 year old - she has one close friend now for two years, but she doesn’t seem to be able to connect to anyone else too well. We are enrolling her in yet another social skills group, and are hoping for some improvement. That is what I would suggest for your daughter, seek out social skills groups and also a good psychologist she can talk to about her problems.