The Meaning of a Smile
Things to Think About:
Imagine being in an exam and upon turning the paper round, you realise you have no idea what’s on it. You can’t read it because it’s in a language you do not know. You look around to make faces at your friends and get confirmation that the paper is wacky, but your friends all have their heads down and are writing, thinking and reading carefully. How do you think you’d feel?
Different, stupid, isolated, panic-stricken maybe?
People with Asperger Syndrome feel that every social situation is like a difficult test. People all around them are comfortable using sarcasm, reading between the lines, changing facial expressions all the time and reacting to each others’ emotional expressions. These are a lot of social cues! Most of us carry them out, read and react to them naturally. People with Asperger’s have a big difficulty with social interaction, besides having other difficulties. Imagine how difficult it must be for them to be out and about around different people constantly communicating…
The next time you see someone feeling clueless about what’s happening – even if they have no disorder that you know of! – take the time to explain what’s going on in the conversation, what people are thinking (if they have shared it) and go into the feelings, too. Then help them join in.
produced in collaboration with registered Gestalt Psychotherapists:
1. Geraldine Borg, ger_b_202@yahoo.com / 7932 4008
2. Nadine Castillo, nadinecastillo13@gmail.com / 9945 2436
3. Karen Schranz. karenschranz@yahoo.com / 9942 8395
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