Discussed in this Episode:

✅ Beck, a teacher in WA, emailed me about a student who had frequent meltdowns, got aggressive with friends, and reacted when his friends would not kick him the ball.

✅ Nathan, one of my students, had a shutdown because he did not get the partner he wanted.

✅ A neurodiverse boy was found lying on the ground under the covered outdoor area with his head down, and his teacher assistant waited for everyone to leave rather than asking what happened.

✅ That same teacher assistant asked the boy to carry her computer into the classroom, using distraction instead of questions.

✅ A child whose friend is away can have their whole world fall apart, which happens particularly with her girls with neurodiversity.

✅ I describe my own social exhaustion: after talking and watching faces and social cues for five hours at a workshop.

✅ A mum in Canberra reached out because her son was incredibly lonely after finishing school, which prompted me to create the social skills course.

✅ When I posted that mum’s question on Facebook, hundreds of people replied saying their child was the same after leaving school.

✅ A child may still remember a partnering incident from a year ago, because neurodiverse children often hold onto experiences that neurotypical children move on from.

This podcast provides a framework for understanding that many behavioural challenges in the classroom stem from social skills. It emphasises that investing time in teaching these skills proactively ultimately saves more time than constantly addressing the meltdowns and conflicts that result from underdeveloped social knowledge.