Description
Building Authentic Connections
An alternative to social skills training
Second Edition
Building Authentic Connections is a 73-page neuroaffirming resource for parents, therapists and educators supporting children and young people.
Traditional social-skills teaching often focuses on how an interaction looks from the outside. Is the child making eye contact? Are they taking turns correctly? Did they respond in the expected way?
A child can learn to perform all of these behaviours without feeling connected, understood or able to be themselves.
This resource explores what helps authentic connection become possible. It looks at communication, nervous-system capacity, felt safety, relationships and the environment around the child. It also asks us to pay attention to adult expectations and what happens when a child communicates a need, preference or boundary.
The resource includes:
- an accessible introduction to neuronormative social expectations, masking, stimming, AAC, capacity and felt safety
- reflection on tone of voice, facial expressions, body language, emotional expression, conversation and physical proximity
- ways of supporting self-advocacy, self-esteem, confidence and mastery
- inclusive classroom and group practices
- activity plans for younger and older children
- ideas for connection through interests, parallel play and shared activities
- conversation starters and flexible self-advocacy scripts
- social scripts for joining a group, declining an invitation, asking for help, responding to exclusion and other common situations
- adaptable social maps for younger and older children
- guidance around lower-demand spaces, sensory and creative activities, flexible breaks and emotional expression through play
- reflective questions to help adults consider power, responsibility and what could change around the child
The scripts, activities and social maps are possibilities rather than another set of skills children have to master. They can be changed, shortened, communicated through AAC or left aside completely. Children do not need to participate more visibly, disclose personal information or use the expected words for their communication to have meaning.
This resource pays close attention to Neurodivergent experiences, while recognising that all children deserve relationships in which their natural communication is understood and respected.
About the second edition
The second edition has been completely rewritten and expanded. It contains new sections exploring capacity, felt safety, power, conflicting needs, mastery, flexible breaks and supportive environments. The practical activities, scripts and social maps have also been revised to offer children more choice, protect their privacy and move away from expectations of calm, polite or increasingly visible participation.
Format: Digital PDF, 73 pages
Price: €22
Purchasing this resource gives the purchaser permission to print and use individual pages with the children and young people they personally support. The complete resource may not be shared or distributed to other practitioners, schools or organisations.
