In my experience working with teens on the autism spectrum, I have come to learn that telling a he has a diagnosis of autism can be very upsetting for the teen. Apparently, most teens who have not been educated on autism, view autism as a form of intellectual impairment which they have come to associate with social stigma. In truth, people with autism have normal intellect, and in some cases very high intellect. The predominant issue associated with autism is a cognitive difficulty to inability to read nonverbal cues and function in social settings.

Typically, I will have the teen referred for an evaluation and when the results are consistent with my results, I find myself with an upset teen who believes that his or her future is doomed due to the stigma they believe is attached to a label of autism. I have found a lot of success in processing the problematic behaviors observed by myself, his parents and the evaluator without an emphasis on the label.

Not only is the teen in agreement that he or she struggles with these problematic behaviors or symptoms, he or she also becomes encouraged to address and improve upon these problematic behaviors or symptoms. Some teens after an evaluation, may defiantly refuse to accept the diagnosis of autism while acknowledging the identified behaviors and symptoms as issues. This is fine, so long as progress is made in these areas.

Typical behavioral issues a teen on the spectrum will have are poor eye contact, intense , leading to a withdrawal from social interaction, or a pattern of social interaction in which the teen does not recognize appropriate boundaries with others. Examples would include maintaining appropriate distance when engaging with others, choosing an appropriate topic of discussion for the audience and inappropriate touching. Teens on the spectrum also display and obsessions with certain themes.

Then you have the cognitive issues such as speech delay and/ or awkward speech patterns. A hyper focus on certain things usually coupled with a difficulty in paying to everything else. This usually leads to an additional diagnosis of . However, the big one is the difficulty in having any level of awareness for the feelings of others, which leads to an inability to read nonverbal social cues.

For the behavioral issues, like have poor social contact, I provide a comprehensive psychoeducation to the teen about the psychology of making eye contact with people you are speaking with. If the teen struggles with social , it is usually him or her who is eager to address this issue for the purpose of improving the quality of friends they have. Although, sometimes the teen reports not being interested at all in making any friends.

If the teen is an , who is clueless about the poor boundaries he or she has when talking to others, it can be a bit of a challenge explaining this to the teen. However, there are usually a string of incidents in which the teen experienced significant conflicts with others over a perceived invasion of space which you could use as examples. Some teens become interested in addressing this issue when you inform them that you would be teaching them strategies to prevent future conflicts. This usually ties into the issue of not being able to read nonverbal cues, once the teen has agreed that this is an issue in his or her life, you can then transition into a psychoeducation on the basics of reading facial expressions followed by .

Finally, issues in academia is often going to be an issue with teens on the spectrum. Usually the chief complaint from the parent is that the teenager habitually procrastinates or refuses to engage in his or her homework. Another complaint is that the teen has a difficult time focusing to complete any task, or a combination of both. Addressing issues of or poor focus with academia, involves full parental participation. In which the parent sets up conditions in the home which creates discomfort every time the teen refuses to engage in his or her school work.

I usually address this issue after having successfully addressed at least two behavioral issues with the teen. At this time enough rapport would have been established to weather the storm.

Ugo is a psychotherapist and owner of Road 2 Resolutions PLLC