Presented by:Peter Vermeulen, Ph.D.
Date: Thursday, October 25, 2012
Time: 1:30pm - 3:00pm
Session: Session #8
Learning Objectives:
- To identify the ingredients of relational competence? And which ones are affected by autism?
- Review the success in relationships: more than a matter of Theory of Mind!
- Review relationships: the ultimate case of an open system and, hence, a mystery and a challenge for brains that are context blind.
- Provide the rules of relationships: not only hidden, but especially ever changing! Exceptions are the rule.
- To learn the concept of relationship is very vague and abstract, and 1000 times more
Outline of Presentation:
Engaging in relationships, especially intimate relationships, is a tough challenge for people with an autism spectrum disorder. Many of the relational skills and knowledge that neurotypical people seem to develop effortlessly and spontaneously are clogged by the way an autistic brain understands the world. Most people with ASD have a desire to relate to other people and many of them want to have friends or an intimate relationship. Unfortunately, for people with ASD, the road from desire to successful relationships is often strewn with obstacles.
In this presentation, part 1 of two presentations on ASD and relationships, we explore the challenges people with ASD are facing when building relationships. We will describe how many of these challenges are linked to the specific way of information processing in the autistic brain, which we call context blindness.
Based on this knowledge we developed a new psycho-education program on relationships for teens, tweens and adults. We will present this program in part 2 of the presentation.
Topics that will be covered are:
- What are the ingredients of relational competence? And which ones are affected by autism?
- Success in relationships: more than a matter of Theory of Mind!
- Relationships: the ultimate case of an open system and, hence, a mystery and a challenge for brains that are context blind.
- The rules of relationships: not only hidden, but especially ever changing! Exceptions are the rule.
- Relational competence: not a matter of knowing how to react, but a case of making good guesses. The virtue of context sensitive guessing.
- The concept of relationship is very vague and abstract, and 1000 times more difficult than math!