debate /speech class for an Aspie

[ktgrok]

So....my ds11 was diagnosed recently with Asperger's. His main issues are communicating with strangers, although it is an issue somewhat at home. He hates to make eye contact, shrugs, mumbles, etc. However, when he has something he is excited to talk about he does great. We have tried a social skills class but he felt out of place because the other kids had worse skills than he did. Sigh.

 

anyway, I got an email today about a local class coming up that is once a week. It would be teaching debate and public speaking skills. My son LOVES to argue, and has expressed a mild interest in learning more about formal debating. I'm thinking this might be a way for him to learn better speaking skills, eye contact, etc in a formal way, but without him having to be in a special social skills class.

 

Is this sound logic, or a horrid idea?

[katilac]

Hmmm, that's a tough one. It might be a good choice, if your son is ready for it. If not, disaster might loom :tongue_smilie:

 

Think about your son's specific Aspie traits. The shrugging, mumbling, and no eye contact clearly have a chance of benefitting from a speech class, if your son's other (possible) traits won't "block" him from participating. If he is quick to anger and easily gets frustrated, a group setting that involves a great deal of interaction and constructive criticism might be very difficult for him. Does he struggle with doing things on someone else's schedule? How hard is it going to be for him to commit to participating even when he doesn't feel like it? Refusing to give a speech only affects him, but refusing to debate messes up other people as well, kwim?

 

Has your son done other classes or group activities? He needs to be aware that, just as he was 'ahead' of the kids in the social skills class, he might be 'behind' the kids in the speech class. Which is fine, of course, just something to be aware of - - everyone is always changing and growing, and sometimes we hit that awkward stage where our skills are very in-between-ish.

 

I would try to speak to the teacher about the specifics of the class. Does it focus mainly on public speaking skills, or does it dive deep into debate? What's the usual skill set/experience of other students? If the full scope of the class is too much for ds, are accomodations possible?

 

So....my ds11 was diagnosed recently with Asperger's. His main issues are communicating with strangers, although it is an issue somewhat at home. He hates to make eye contact, shrugs, mumbles, etc. However, when he has something he is excited to talk about he does great. We have tried a social skills class but he felt out of place because the other kids had worse skills than he did. Sigh.

 

anyway, I got an email today about a local class coming up that is once a week. It would be teaching debate and public speaking skills. My son LOVES to argue, and has expressed a mild interest in learning more about formal debating. I'm thinking this might be a way for him to learn better speaking skills, eye contact, etc in a formal way, but without him having to be in a special social skills class.

 

Is this sound logic, or a horrid idea?

[elise1mds]

I agree that it would depend on your kid. My initial response is to be very leery. I know that would never be something mine could handle, because he would get very, very frustrated to prepare a debate speech and then have every single carefully-researched point refuted by the opposing person. Would he have to work on a team? Would that be something he could handle? For the public speaking part, would he be fielding questions from his audience? I think mine would enjoy giving a speech but would probably freeze if someone asked him an unexpected question. I'd have lots of questions for the class leader before I signed him up officially. If he does do it, I hope he enjoys it!

[Tammyla]

I agree with the above posts. If he does take the class, please share the experience with us.

[ktgrok]

Thanks everyone, you gave me some good points to consider. He was in public school until this year, so he is used to working with others, although sometimes better at it than others. When he was much younger, in I think 2nd grade, he did some "speeches" in his gifted class, and actually enjoyed them as I recall. I'm going to talk to him about it and get his input.

 

Oh, and it would be a small class, with just middle school students. Most of it would be individual speeches/debates, with some group ones. they would also learn about fallacies/logic, which was going to be one of his subjects next year anyway.

 

I think you are right that it will either go really well or really badly, lol.

[G5052]

The teamwork and unpredicability would concern me. I've seen kids 11-13 really lay into each other if the situation is not carefully managed.

 

I taught a 13 y.o. Aspie in class this year (different topic though), and I really had to watch the peer interaction and make sure that he could succeed at something in class. In group discussions involving formulating a group strategy he would voice his opinions and then go into his shell if there was any disagreement or lack of support. And yes, if there were too many questions on his ideas, that would do it too. IMHO the class was really not a good fit for him, and I did what I could, but the structure and peer relationships were tough.

 

In contrast, his mom put him in a drama group on a different day. It was very structured and he knew just what to do, so the situation was entirely different. He excelled with the parts he took in the plays and the peer relationships were more informal and worked better. His mom appreciated all that I did to try to include her son, but we both agreed that drama is a better activity for him.

[Photo Ninja]

My friend put her 8th grade ds with Asp. in our 10 week speech class. This was just speech, not debate. Her goal was for him to learn public speaking skills. He did well, practiced what he was being taught, and somewhat enjoyed it because he was able to pick subjects for his speech that he was interested in and wanted to tell people about. He actually did far better than my df expected.

 

When the class ended, my df decided to let him join the competitive speech club and go to a tournament so her ds could have that experience, speaking in front of judges and getting more input. She wanted him to continue to practice what he had learned, and this was a good way to do it since the class ended. He picked his favorite speech to compete with, and did well.

 

My df never had the goal of him competing in speech, but her ds was successful. They all worked hard to help him prepare, and he did a lot of almost daily practicing. He has now been competing for 4 years at the local, state and national level. They never dreamed that he would be so successful in public speaking, but he was able to learn the speaking skills and use them. What he learned has also transferred into daily conversations (pacing, eye contact, etc.).

 

As long as you think the environment will be good for him, based on my df's experience, I think you could try it. Sometimes you don't know what a child is capable of doing until the child is given the opportunity to try.