Social Communication Therapy For Adults With ASD

Written by: Nimra Khan / Social Skills / August 31, 2022 / 8 minutes read

I have had a lot of experience in working with children and adults on the Autism spectrum over the past few years, which has allowed me to see a variety of services available in the GTA. An unfortunate gap in services that I have noticed is concerning the adult population with ASD, as most of the adults I’ve worked with in this context have wanted support for social communication. Services can be expensive of course, but it is difficult to find as many opportunities for social groups, coaching and advice from a speech and language perspective. COVID has also impacted many people’s previous confidence in communication, as detailed here.

Many of the adults I have worked have spoken with a psychiatrist or psychotherapist, especially if they have received a diagnosis later in life. However, I would argue that SLP services can be an important and essential part of the journey as well. I like to tell clients that language does not exist in a vacuum – it is fluid and depends a lot on certain social contexts. Speech therapy input, for this reason, is even more helpful because it allows the opportunity to discuss and practice for different contexts and the expressive and receptive skills needed to help make that comfortable. 

After speaking with many adults with ASD on their experience with social communication, I know that it can vary greatly between individuals. In my experience, there are some common themes and topics that have been reported to me. There is often a feeling of ‘I don’t know what I should be doing’ and ‘I didn’t do X, and so the conversation didn’t go well’.  It’s important to work on increasing your own confidence, to help make these situations a little bit easier. However, it’s good to remember that conversations (a) are not perfect and (b) involve 50% from you and 50% from the person you are speaking with. Try not to aim for ‘perfection’ – you can work on social communication and still have awkward conversations because we can’t read everyone’s minds. However, practicing the skills that can build your own confidence will help you reach a more comfortable place in those situations.

"Language does not exist in a vacuum – it is fluid and depends a lot on certain social contexts. Speech therapy input, for that reason, is even more helpful because it allows the opportunity to discuss and practice for different contexts..."

You might wonder what is involved in SLP sessions for social communication – as in, what is the structure, topics covered, etc. An important part to remember is that this is flexible to your needs, experiences and where it will be most functional in your life. However, working on social communication with an SLP, especially for virtual sessions, will focus on 3 main areas: 

• Therapeutic discussion of areas of difficulty (based on current models, research and experience) 

• Role-play 

• Carryover: The application to daily life 

For example: if a client reports being unsure what to do when starting a conversation, we list and discuss the general parts of an introduction first. Then, we try to role-play different situations. This can make people nervous, but it’s the most helpful way to put difficult areas into practice! In the example I mentioned, I have often set up a scenario and will pretend to be a new person that the client has to introduce themselves to, and then we discuss feedback and do a few trials to increase confidence. Lastly, the most important part is to practice for past situations when the client has felt an introduction did not go positively. This could be a specific work situation with a colleague they were meeting for the first time. I pretend to be that colleague after the client provides some details about this context, and we apply the skills we have been using in the appointment. If you are interested in communication for the workplace and want to gain some information at your own pace, then view our Communication Wellness Masterclass here.

Carryover is another important part of the skills we target – your SLP can discuss with you any upcoming social situations that you will have that you can continue to practice this. There are also ways to practice on your own so that you can strengthen these skills. If you’d like to get started with thinking about what kinds of non-verbal skills you might have difficulty with, this article provides a good overview. In addition, if you are unsure about how a client-clinician professional relationship can look, find more information here. 

To speak with one of the speech-language pathologists at Well Said: Toronto Speech Therapy, schedule an initial consultation by clicking the link below or calling (647) 795-5277.