What Is a Social Connection Group?

Key points

Social connection groups can give autistic individuals a place of community among other neurodivergent people.

Unlike a social skills group, social connection groups focus on relating.

Social connection groups may utilize tools like therapeutic tabletop role-playing games.

I came to the social skills group to make friends. At 11 years old, I had close to none. Each week, we would learn about different skills. Things like how to say hello, how to say goodbye, how loud to talk, and understanding idioms. I liked rules, so memorizing these rules came naturally. Yet, I'd find myself stumbling outside; unlike classes, actual social situations require quite a bit more nuance.

What I did that was helpful was "The Zone," the last hour of group marked out as free time for us fellow