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:
How does social anxiety differ for autistic people?
Posted: January 9, 2020
Long before I knew I had Asperger's Syndrome, my GP said I had social anxiety. I did some reading on social anxiety and although it did sort of fit me, it wasn't an exact fit. Most of the literature on social anxiety talked about people who have self-critical, negative thoughts such as... "Nobody likes me" "What if I make a fool of myself?" "I'm such a failure at socialising" I sort of had these thoughts, but wasn't really sure. Those thoughts were probably more linked to being young and feeling insecure generally rather than anything else. As I got older and after I was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome I realised that the thoughts I was actually having were more linked to my social communication difficulties rather than believing people to be judging me. I like myself and I know that I am a nice person! So once I fully understood and accepted that I had Asperger's Syndrome, I no longer had those sorts of thoughts at all. The reason for my social anxiety, now that I know I have ASD, is more to do with finding social interactions extremely difficult and overwhelming.
Investing in yourself
Posted: December 30, 2019
I have always been very cautious about spending money. My dad taught me from a young age the importance of saving. He would always say, "Are you sure you can afford that?" whenever I was considering purchasing something expensive. To this day, every time I spend money, I always have that nagging feeling in the back of my mind!! I am really glad for his advice because 1) I have learned the value of money and 2) I have managed to save money... however... saving is not always the best option. In fact, saving money can actually restrict us. I have learned that it can be better to invest money instead. This article is about the importance of investing, BUT I don't exclusively mean investing money, I am also referring to investing your energy, emotions and your time. It only recently occurred to me that there are so many other ways to invest in yourself. All these other ways will be discussed in this article:
How to more easily collaborate with others
Posted: December 19, 2019
Like a lot of people on the autism spectrum, I have rigid routines and ways of doing things. This inflexibility is actually a method of coping and being able to do things well, rather than me being difficult. If I don't have such rigid plans and sequences, then I feel completely bewildered and nothing gets done at all. But what happens when your workload becomes so high that you feel you could benefit from the help of others? Or when you just feel a bit overloaded generally and could do with some practical support from others? How do you fit these people into your rigid routines? This is a massive problem that I face. As soon as other people get involved in my life, things start to go wrong - deadlines get missed, schedules get disrupted, inaccuracies occur, or people just do the wrong thing despite having good intentions. Often it means I end up having to do more work. It's not their fault though. It's just that, because of my Asperger's Syndrome, my life has to be extremely rigid and accurate. If it's not rigid and accurate then my anxiety becomes extremely high and I find it difficult to function.
Autistic introversion vs autistic extroversion
Posted: December 9, 2019
I always used to think that autistic people could only ever be introverted. As The Curly Hair Project developed, I soon realised this belief was completely false, because I have come across so many autistic extroverts. In this article I want to discuss why people might have the belief that autistic people are introverted, what the differences are between autistic introverts and extroverts, and how we can possibly support each type so that they have a fulfilling and enjoyable life!
Does talking help?
Posted: November 29, 2019
There is a belief that "talking helps". That has never been my experience. A lot of the time I find that talking about my feelings makes me feel worse than before. I wanted to summarise why this might be.
The Dissociation Effect
Posted: November 19, 2019
The Dissociation* Effect is a way to describe what autistic people might experience during a group social situation. It also describes what neurotypical people might experience in comparison. *Note that 'Dissociation' is a recognised psychological experience with trauma. It is not the same as what I am talking about in this article. Watch our awesome animation to see The Dissociation Effect explained:
What is Executive Function?
Posted: November 11, 2019
Executive function is the set of mental skills that helps people get things done, such as planning, working memory, organisation and how to manage the steps of a task. Autistic people tend to have weak executive function and struggle with these mental skills. Watch our amazing animation to understand a fantastic explanation of this complicated idea:
New film – episode 5 now available
Posted: November 9, 2019
We have just released episode 5, 'A Day in the University Placement Year for The Girl With The Curly Hair', in our short film series! This film showcases The Girl With The Curly Hair's first experience of work. She is working in a science measurement and testing company for a year, as part of her university degree. You can watch it on the website here.
The mystery surrounding anxiety
Posted:
When I was younger I used to feel anxious most of the time. The point is, I didn't realise that it was anxiety. I knew I was "quiet", but the word "anxious" was never really brought up. Everyone called me "quiet". Quiet is a very common word and even children know what the word quiet means. What no one explained however, and what I did not realise at the time, was that "anxiety" can sometimes cause someone to be "quiet". And "anxious" can be much more of a problem than "quiet" is. "Anxiety" was a complete mystery to me.
The Glass Jar Theory
Posted: November 3, 2019
The glass jar represents the difficulties that an autistic person has, which makes them feel that they are living inside a glass jar. Watch our amazing video to see how being inside a glass jar might make a person feel: