A social enterprise helping people on the autistic spectrum and the people around them.
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4 Conversation techniques to add to your social script
Posted: 10 months ago
Many autistic people create for themselves a 'social script' to help them know how to interact in social situations. A social script is a guide for planning what to do and say inside a social setting.
The Girl With The Curly Hair uses a social script whenever she meets up with her friends. Specifically, she uses 4 conversation techniques:
10 of the most important social skills
Posted: June 12, 2021
Social skills are the skills we use to communicate and interact with others. When I think about social skills what immediately comes to mind are things such as being able to make eye contact, know when and how to say “hello” and make small talk. However, I think that there are other far more helpful… Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today This article and our podcasts are available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this arti…
How to tolerate other people’s points of view
Posted: May 29, 2021
When a person has autism it means that they think differently from others. A simple way to understand this is to imagine that there are 20 people in a room. Out of those 20 people, 1 person is on the autistic spectrum. 19 people are thinking one way and the individual on the spectrum is thinking another way. How do you think these circumstances might make the person on the autistic spectrum feel or behave? Maybe... self-righteous and judgmental, confused, isolated and 'different' or doubtful. Here are some ways and suggestions on how to manage these feelings. Most autistic people will probably experience these feelings to different degrees at some point in their life:
5 questions to ask yourself before you do anything
Posted: May 16, 2021
It is common for autistic people to worry about forthcoming activities. For lots of activities, a small amount of anxiety is normal, however there will be times when there is an excessive amount of anxiety. Although it's good to come out of our comfort zone and do things that are difficult occasionally, it is also important to remember that we do have a choice about the activities we do. If something is causing a significant amount of stress, we must ask ourselves, "do I really need to go through with this?" I decided that there are perhaps 5 main questions people should ask themselves before doing something that is causing anxiety. The answers will then help the person decide whether or not to go through with the activity.
The problem is ‘how’, not ‘what’
Posted: May 1, 2021
One of the greatest challenges that affects me on a day to day basis, and has done throughout my whole life, is not knowing ‘how’ to do something. Not knowing how to do something is a problem that many autistic people have and that many neurotypical people overlook or do not understand. For instance, when… Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today This article and our podcasts are available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read th…
A Day in the Reception Class for The Girl With The Curly Hair
Posted: April 17, 2021
I’m excited to release my new film called ‘A Day in the Reception Class for The Girl With The Curly Hair.’ It shows how a 5 year old on the autism spectrum might experience a day at school. It was very interesting to think about how autism might affect a young child. I learned a… Join The Curly Hair Project Community Today This article and our podcasts are available only to members of our community. If you would like to continue to read this article, along with…
10 things I wish my teachers had known
Posted: April 3, 2021
Recently I took part in an interview which asked me about my school days. There were some really good questions and the interview made me reflect on my school experiences when 1) I was just a child and 2) I didn't know I had Asperger's Syndrome. I know now I have Asperger's Syndrome. Now I have discovered a lot of strategies to help me live with my condition. I thought if I wrote an article that highlighted some things my teachers could have known about me, then this might be helpful to some teachers (and parents) now.
Maintaining your Happy Balance
Posted: March 20, 2021
Someone once taught me a very important life lesson. They said, "always ensure you are doing more of what you like and less of what you don't like." I think I'll call this the Happy Balance. When we are doing more of what we like and less of what we don't like, we are likely to feel happy. It might be helpful to regularly reflect on your life and assess 1) the quantity and 2) the weighting of the activities you are doing. You can consider small parts of your life (such as your job or how you spend your weekends) or you can reflect on your life in general.
How do we react to people who are on their own?
Posted: March 6, 2021
I've been watching some of my animations and something that stands out at me in pretty much every film is: how other people respond to The Girl With The Curly Hair when she is on her own. Even though I wrote the scripts, I don't fully appreciate every single learning point captured in a film. In fact, each time I watch one of the animations, I see a different angle or a new perspective. Today I've been noticing the reoccurring theme that The Girl With The Curly Hair is so often on her own - or so often wanting to be on her own - and the different reactions people have to her. Let's have a look at some specific examples:
2 rarely emphasised ways of coping with change
Posted: February 20, 2021
Many people struggle with change and it is well known that autistic people struggle with change even more so. There are primarily two types of change: 1) chosen change and 2) imposed change. The pandemic is an example of an imposed change. If you are interested in learning more about how people react to change, I recommend reading about the Kubler-Ross change curve. The Kubler-Ross model suggests that, after a change, people go through 5 different stages and feel 5 different emotions, and they eventually come to accept the change. The change becomes the new normal and the person gets on with their life. I think that it is quite interesting to note that the way people react to chosen and imposed changes is remarkably similar. Even chosen changes can cause feelings of anger and grief, for example. Although it is helpful to learn how to deal with the emotions associated with change, there are at least two other, lesser talked about, factors that people might benefit from learning to manage. These two things have actually benefited me far more than learning to cope with the 5 feelings in the Change Curve. So I want everybody to know about them! So, here are two rarely emphasised things that happen to us when we go through change and ways to successfully combat them: What is it like to be a literal thinker?
Posted: February 6, 2021
Literal thinkers interpret what others say based on the precise or factual meaning of the words used, as opposed to the implied or metaphoric meaning. People on the autism spectrum are often associated with having literal thinking. Some neurotypical people also have literal thinking. Literal thinking has nothing to do with intelligence. One great struggle that comes from having literal thinking is that it can be incredibly difficult to interact with others. Communication becomes very confusing.