Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious kids and teens who struggled with staying on topic during a conversation.

Some of the kids in this group continued talking about something, even when it was clear to everyone else that no one was interested in continuing to talk about that topic.

Some students changed the topic every time they asked a question, unaware that others in the group had a hard time keeping up with all the changes and randomness, and that it really wasn't a conversation, it was more like an interview.

And some of the kids had a hard time recognizing when others changed the topic, so they continued making comments about topics that the group had moved on from.

There were also students in this group who got frustrated when the topic changed, because they still wanted to keep talking about that topic, and so they weren't able to change and shift with the group when the topic changed, as it always does.

I created the lesson I'm sharing this week for all of these students.

In this lesson, students learn how and when to change the topic appropriately, why they or others may choose to change the topic, and how to handle topic changes that they weren't wanting or expecting.

Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who didn't know that there are stages or levels between strangers and friends.

Sometimes these students treat people they kind of knew like they were strangers, not acknowledging them when they saw them.

Sometimes they didn't know how to engage in small talk with people they kind of knew, so interactions were pretty awkward.

And some students thought everyone they knew was their friend, which meant they were often too friendly or too personal with people they only kind of knew. And the reality is that most people in our lives are people we only kind of know.

I created the lesson I'm sharing on this week's podcast for all of these students.

In this lesson, I teach students that an acquaintance is someone we recognize from somewhere or something. We usually know their name, but not always. This can include students in our class or our group, neighbors, teachers, and friends of our parents. We also talk about what the social expectations are when we are around acquaintances, like small talk and introductions to other people.

Once upon a time, there were autistic, ADHD, and anxious students who struggled to notice the interests of others and to use that information to help them form connections.

Some students weren't able to identify anything that anyone close to them liked or was interested in.

There were students who had a reputation for being selfish because they only talked about things that they were interested in, even though they knew what their family and friends liked.

And then there were students who did a great job paying attention to the interests of people around them, but they didn't know how to use that information to build connections.

I created the lesson we're talking about this week for all of these students.

In this lesson, students practice listening to others while they share about their interests, and we also practice asking others questions about their interests and making related comments.