Conversation Club: A Social Pragmatic Skills Group for Adults with Autism
About the Conversation Club
The Conversation Club is a social skills group intervention for adults with autism. Given the prevalence of autism has increased tenfold over the past decade to approximately 1 in 88 children (Centers for Disease Control, 2008), there is a growing number of older individuals (adolescent/adults) with autism in need of appropriate interventions and services.
The Conversation Club, developed by Dr. Shubha Kashinath, collaborates with the College Link Program (CLP) to provide social pragmatic interventions to college level students with autism enrolled at Cal State East Bay. The Conversation Club is structured to increase participants’ use of appropriate social communication skills in naturally occurring activities and settings.This neurodiverse affirming framework incorporates Theory of Mind and Social Cognition to foster social skills growth in an inclusive context.
Who can attend?
The group currently includes Cal State East Bay students who are enrolled in the College Link Program.
When and where will the sessions take place?
The group consist of up to 10 members and is facilitated by graduate student clinicians under the supervision of a certified speech-language pathologist. The group meets on the Cal State East Bay Hayward campus in the Music Building.
What can I expect?
Each semester, the groups meet to identify individual social and pragmatic goals around a theme related to social communication. Past themes have included: The Art of Conversation, Making Friends, and Understanding Non-Verbal Communication. Each session targets specific skills related to the theme. Each session includes structured discussion and practice of target skills, role-playing and problem-solving and practice with peer volunteers. Common skills targeted include:
Interpreting non-verbal language
The art of small talk
Learning to take another person’s perspective
Hidden social rules in various settings (restaurants, dorms, library)
Including others in conversations
Learning to disagree
Use of appropriate tone and register of voice
Initiating and maintaining conversations
Interviewing skills.
The Conversation Club is currently led by a Licensed Speech and Language Pathologist (SLP) from the Deparment of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences. Interested persons can call the Norma S. and Ray R. Rees Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at (510) 885- 3241, or email Dr. Shubha Kashinath directly at shubha.kashinath@csueastbay.edu.
News and Events
Check out the following articles about the Conversation Club/CLP: