Reading Social Cues
Humanex educates students who have Asperger’s Syndrome, and high-functioning autism. Students with these conditions benefit from the commitment of our counselors and teachers to helping them learn how to navigate the social waters of high school more successfully. Support from teachers includes gentle coaching on appropriate personal space, instruction on reading nonverbal cues and suggestions on how to successfully participate in group activities without withdrawing or acting out. Staff members openly demonstrate social skills such as how to have a conversation, how to join a group of people talking and how to distinguish between a sarcastic statement and a serious one.
Humanex’s licensed mental health counselor works in individual counseling and small group setting with students who struggle socially. Learning how to make friends and how to get along with people are skills that many of our students need to improve. Gaining confidence in social settings has positive effects for students’ self-esteem. Clear, consistent boundary-setting from teachers helps students feel safe and models for them appropriate ways to have their needs met.
Conflict Resolution
Learning how to positively resolve conflict is a goal for all our students. Our counselor facilitates conflict resolutions between students at their requests and when teachers identify issues that may evolve into larger problems. The skills students learn during conflict resolutions serve them well in their lives after high school and improve their relationships with friends and family members. These skills include listening to other perspectives, learning to stay calm, learning to take a break from a conflict to regroup, setting boundaries and being empathetic.
Positive Self Advocacy
Developing positive self-advocacy is important for all our students. One of the challenges many students face is that their current methods of getting their needs met creates greater problems for them. Our counselor coaches students in how to ask for what they need, whether the request is directed to a teacher or peer or involves a more difficult conversation the student needs to have with his or her parents. Students are taught about sharing power in a relationship and about the qualities of a good friend through the course of this instruction. Teachers support the development of this skill by encouraging students’ appropriate self-advocacy in their academic progress.
Anger Management
Learning to manage their anger in appropriate ways is another skill many students need. By having options for visiting the counselor or cooling off in a safe location when they are frustrated, students learn to calm themselves and return to the problem when they are capable of thinking of a solution. Staff training in Love and Logic and in de-escalation techniques helps students avoid many of the explosive reactions that they have demonstrated in more crowded, less flexible settings. Humanex individualizes the counseling support students need so they can become emotionally healthier overall.