Valuing Respect

Being able to respect others even when we do not agree with them is an important skill to have. People are entitled to have their own thoughts and opinions, and even though they may conflict with your own, it is important to remain respectful when interacting with others. It is a way we make and nature friendships. Whether you’re in pre-school or on your way to college, it is always good to follow the “Golden Rule” and respect others since you would like them to do the same in return. Without it, people will not want to hang around you since they may feel as if they are not being treated equally, causing some people to struggle with socializing. Respect is more than just accepting others’ opinions. It is also maintaining personal space, not asking too personal of questions to people who may not like that, treating other’s belongings properly, and so much more. Yet, for those with life challenges such as Autism, ADHD, “Asperger’s,” anxiety disorders, etc., learning how to be respectful can be difficult.

Middle school can be a hard time for children (and the adults who interact with them). It seems as if everyone is branching off to their respective groups, finding what they like, and becoming their own person, but this can bring problems. Sometimes, kids can be mean. They may act out because they do not like how a person is different from them, but it is important to remain respectful, even when they may not be treating you respectfully. In middle and high school, fighting back typically creates more problems. However, if you were to advocate for yourself and act respectfully, it shows how you are being more emotionally mature and not instigating the situation you are in, which would likely only be like adding “fuel onto the fire”. Yet not all conflict comes from bullies. Sometimes it is people in your own friend group. No matter how much you have in common with someone, there is always perceptual differences and it is important to be respectful of that. If you are, it shows the other person you not only care about your friendship but respect them as a person, strengthening that bond you two share. When it comes to children, “Most struggle to cooperate sometimes. But parents of [life-challenged] children and teenagers often find that their child’s lack of cooperation interferes with everyday life.” (cooperativebehavior, 2020). This could be for many reasons, such as the child just being a hormonal teenager, but it is important for children to know that respect is needed in all categories of their life. Whether it be at school with their friends and peers or at home with their families, respect is essential to ensure they are on the right path to becoming adults. It allows kids, teens, and young adults to strengthen the connections they have in their lives, providing them with a support system for their times of need, and overall makes them well-rounded individuals that can flourish independently in the future.

At the Support for Students Growth Center, we help those with life challenges learn the values and importance of skills such as respect, so they are able to do well on their own in school and any other environment. We provide the social, behavioral, emotional, and executive functioning skills children, teens, young adults, and their families need for a happy and successful life in and out of the school setting. Our team of professionals offers coaching/counseling, social skills groups and much more to help teach skills such as understanding the importance of respect to ensure parents do not have to worry that their kids will be unable to make and maintain friendships and other relationships on their own. So, if your child is struggling with skills like the ones discussed above and more, the SSGC is equipped with the tools to help.

Dr. Eric J. Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D.C., is a Developmental and Behavioral Specialist who specializes in Autism, ADHD and related disorders. Dr. Nach is the founder of the College Life Skills Program where he and his team of professional’s help develop the Emotional Maturity, Executive Functioning, Life Skill and Social Abilities of college students and those high school students preparing for college. The CollegeLSP is a subsidiary program of the Support For Students Growth Center, located in Boca Raton, FL and providing services nationwide.

Cooperative behaviour: Autistic children and teenagers. Raising Children Network. (2020, November 18). Retrieved November 14, 2022, from https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/behaviour/understanding-behaviour/cooperative-behaviour-asd

 

/by

The “Why” of Body Language

Body language is one-way people communicate without using words. You can understand so much about what a person is thinking and feeling just based on their facial and body expressions, which is why it is so important to pay attention to what our peers are trying to tell us silently. Whether it be that they are upset by something we did, excited by a topic, tired, or simply content, it can all be identified through body language. However, for those with life challenges such as ADHD, Autism, “Asperger’s,” etc., picking up on these cues can be more difficult for them than others.

Starting in middle and high school, having the skill of reading body language is so important. Most people when in this stage of life are so focused on what they are feeling or going through that they can forget that others are feeling things too. Therefore, being attentive and paying attention to what our friends and peers are silently telling us is so important. They could be feeling as if they’d like to be alone that day, or maybe they are trying to portray that they want you to come over and help them, but either way, being able to assess the situation helps children, teens, and even young adults make and nurture friendships. Knowing when to back off or come up to someone are useful ways to socialize without feeling the anxiety of rejection, which can be made easier with the help of understanding how to read and interpret body language.

The time between elementary and high school can be stressful enough as it is. So many developmental changes happen during that time and having the worry of not being able to tell what others are feeling around you can make it so much more difficult. This difficulty can then lead to anxiety, isolation, and depression since if your child cannot successfully read body language, they can have a hard time making and maintaining meaningful relationships. This can be because, those with life challenges, “tend to focus on small, local details of body movement — such as the activity of one hand — rather than the motion of a body as a whole, says study investigator Anthony Atkinson, lecturer in psychology at Durham University, UK.” (Basu, 2015). Not paying attention to an individual’s body language, but rather just the minute details such as a hand gesture can distract and confuse an individual with life challenges from the real meaning their peer is trying to portray. Not being able to pick up on facial expressions, personal space, how an individual is standing, what another person’s tone is portraying, and many more aspects of body language can make it difficult to socialize, but the Support for Students Growth Center is qualified to help teach them these skills.

At the Support for Students Growth Center, we provide the social, behavioral, emotional, and executive functioning skills children, teens, young adults, and their families need for a happy and successful life in and out of the school settings. Our team of professionals offers coaching/counseling and social skills groups to help teach skills such as understanding body language to ensure parents do not have to worry that their kids will be unable to make and maintain friendships on their own. So, if your child is struggling with skills like the ones listed above and much more, the SSGC is equipped with the tools to help.

Dr. Eric J. Nach, Ph.D., M.Ed., A.S.D.C., is a Developmental and Behavioral Specialist who specializes in Autism, ADHD and related disorders. Dr. Nach is the founder of the College Life Skills Program where he and his team of professional’s help develop the Emotional Maturity, Executive Functioning, Life Skill and Social Abilities of college students and those high school students preparing for college. The CollegeLSP is a subsidiary program of the Support For Students Growth Center, located in Boca Raton, FL and providing services nationwide.

Basu, P. (2015, December 4). Autism impedes ability to read body language: Spectrum: Autism research news. Spectrum. Retrieved October 31, 2022, from https://www.spectrumnews.org/news/autism-impedes-ability-to-read-body-language/#:~:text=A%20glitch%20in%20visual%20processing,in%20the%20journal%20Neuropsychologia1.

/by