How Social Skills Coaching Prepares Autistic Teens for Adulthood

NEURODIVERGENCE, EMPLOYMENT READINESSGuest UserJune 22, 2023work, employment, social skills, job-readiness, employability

So what's really in an IRL skills course?

When you enroll your autistic or neurodivergent loved one in our program, you’re getting full access to a multidisciplinary team that includes coaches with a broad range of experiences, cultural backgrounds, gender expressions and sexual orientations. Many of us are also neurodivergent or are parents of neurodivergent youth, so we are familiar with the challenges faced by ND young people and their parents.

Mara McLoughlinJanuary 2, 2023social skills, workshops, PEERS

What we’re reading

As we ease deeper into fall and begin to spend more time indoors, many of us find ourselves reading more. Isn’t that one of the best things about fall and winter? Time to curl up with a good book on the sofa, a mug of tea or cocoa, maybe a furry best-friend nearby to keep our laps warm. Here at IRL Social Skills, we are voracious readers, all year-round. Here’s what our coaches are reading.

Mara McLoughlinNovember 16, 2022resources, social skills

First IRL IRL party!

We wouldn’t live up to our name—or our promise—if we didn’t have people come together for actual social interactions. Events where our current students and alumni alike can put their social skills to the test, make new friends. What better opportunity to put those at play than at an outdoor celebration?

Mara McLoughlinOctober 12, 2022social skills

Social Skills Tips for Successful Get-Togethers

Mara McLoughlinApril 1, 2022autism, autistic teens, autism spectrum, social skillsComment

Five social skills autistic people can teach neurotypical people

Honesty, fearlessness, quietude, solitude, and routine are characteristics and values that can benefit us all.

Mara McLoughlinDecember 29, 2021autism, autistic teens, social skillsComment

What is Autism, anyway?

The big problem is that the DSM-5 criteria are written as a set of fixed, deficits-focused observations about the behavior of Autistic children. At no point does the DSM move into motivations or reasons for the behavior, and at no point does the DSM advocate that Autism can be anything apart from a pathology (and doesn’t discuss the impact of autism on teens and adults).