Autistic Friends Network: Find Opportunities to Make Friends
Communication is one of the most frustrating aspects of autism for many people. It is essential to develop socialization skills and find opportunities to make friends in order to be successful. As a young person who is still in school, the options for making friends can be significantly greater than they are after graduation. Whether you are out in the work force or have other disabilities that are preventing you from independent living, it is essential to find an online network community that can help you to achieve your goals. Resources, videos, educational programs, and interactive chat groups are things to look for in an autistic friends network. Social skills and autism no longer have to be mutually exclusive, as there are many options available today to provide resources and support.
All Friends Network
Whether you are ready to get out into the world or feel safer chatting from your home computer or mobile device, All Friends Network can help. Launched during the pandemic, when opportunities to make friends all but disappeared, our new AFN Live-LINK app and online resources can help you to learn to overcome issues with social skills and autism. We are even planning monthly social events near our main location in Sarasota, Florida, beginning in the fall of 2021. The more members we can get within our community, the easier it will be to get group discounts and make these events even more affordable for everyone to participate. We are currently working with vendors to help cover costs for those who cannot afford to attend these meaningful events with our cerebral palsy and autistic friends network.
Growing and expanding your life skills is also a key ingredient in being able to make and maintain friendships. In addition to providing opportunities to make friends, All Friends Network is building an online resource of educational training videos, small seminars and will be providing one-on-one sessions for all of our AFN members. Another idea that we have is to work with an employment agency to help facilitate employment opportunities for all members who are searching for job placement. Our goal is to even offer training to help individuals prepare a professional resume and work on interview techniques that they can use during their job interview. Stay on top of the latest developments within our online networking community by signing up via our website.
Gain Confidence Online to Take into the Real World
We hope that our online resources, networking opportunities, and interactive AFN Live-LINK app will encourage members to get out into the world and find new opportunities to make friends. All it takes is learning the necessary skills, practicing the techniques, and gaining the confidence necessary to do it yourself. The primary goal of All Friends Network was to create a cerebral palsy and autistic friends network that can help members cultivate lifelong relationships and make it easier to communicate with members all across the country. Live-LINK is a safe and friendly environment for all to enjoy. It is open only to our members and not available to anyone outside the community.
Once you find someone that you think would be a good friend, you need to smile, say hello, and be friendly. You can offer to share something, offer a seat during a busy event, pay them a compliment, and find new ways to talk about things that they might be interested in discussing. You like to talk about your favorite things, and so do other people, so find ways to invite a potential friend to talk about the things that they enjoy, such as hobbies, sports, and activities. Sometimes people are not ready to make friends. Either they are shy, busy, nervous, or working on developing their own social skills. Learn how to take those social cues and end the conversation when it does not go anywhere. This will help you prevent your own frustrations about communicating and allow the other person time to prepare for making friends in the future.
Join Our Membership!
Visit our website to learn more about our autistic friends network and resources for mastering social skills and autism. If you have questions about our program or would like to sign up to be notified when we announce new opportunities to make friends and meet up in the real world, give us a call at 941-587-7172 or contact us via our online Contact Form online.