Professional Communications & Leadership Skills Workshop
The Professional Communications and Leadership Skills Workshop (PCLS) is a series of case-based sessions designed to empower neurodiverse students to thrive in their school and work environments. Participants are led through sessions involving case studies, lessons, challenges, realistic role play and social skills labs. Workshop sessions take place virtually, for one hour, twice a week, over 16 weeks. Groups are strategically placed into a small community of learners where all create personalized tools for success in the classroom and in personal life. iSocial conducts the sessions with nationally known employment and autism experts.
Expected outcomes
Upon successful completion the participant will improve their ability to:
- Read and interpret emotions with greater accuracy.
- Improve awareness of one's professional image.
- Develop advanced problem-solving strategies.
- Understand the elements of advocacy.
- Utilize goal setting to move from surviving to thriving.
- Understand the importance of networking.
- Be a more effective team player.
- Spot and repair social errors
- Resolve conflicts
PCLS workshop described by past students.
"Autism affects us all differently. It is an unseen force that consumes our aptitude in things that most people would consider as common sense. This often manifests in difficulty with social skills. PCLS provides tools, clarity, and processing techniques to help us cope with aspects of communication that we often struggle with. Social networking, for example, is a somewhat advanced social concept that can be effective to those able to make use of it. iSocial's PCLS strives to teach us how and why it works, as well as the benefits of understanding/using it. Other concepts, like self-advocacy, goal setting, and relationship structures, are discussed in the same way. For those of us that see these concepts as exotic or alien, mastering them can be life changing."
"PCLS spread out all of my actions and reactions in detail in front of me so I could see them. Then it showed me which ones to focus on: what was actually happening with myself and others and what was just my paranoid fear. When I learned where to focus my attention, I discovered I actually had the skills I needed to succeed. This program gave me both the clarity and the confidence to use my skills effectively. Tearing down my doubt about making mistakes and replacing it with confidence means that I'm empowered to go to bat for myself."
PCLS Workshop Outline
Unit 1: Professional Communication Skills
- Micro-expressions, reading emotions, reading a room, body language.
- Accurate perspective taking.
- Social skills lab.
Unit 2: Professional Image
- Determining the professional image the student wants to craft.
- Role of appearance, behavior, and communication in a professional image.
- Rigidity vs. Flexibility
Unit 3: Spotting and Repairing Social Errors
- A tool for identifying when a social error has occurred.
- Repairing errors after they have occurred.
- Preventing future errors.
Unit 4: Conflict Resolution
- Strategies for effectively responding to a conflict.
- How/when to address, assert, or advocate for self.
- Matching solutions to conflict.
Unit 5: Self-Advocacy
- Steps for self-advocating.
- Understanding rights.
- Identifying when there is benefit in disclosing.
Unit 6: From Surviving to Thriving
- Advancement
- Reflection on current situation versus preferred situation.
- Tools to help move from surviving to thriving.
Testimonials
"PCLS was a life changer for me"
"The program is wonderful! I am really enjoying my time in it! Kate and Dr. Bruno are awesome (the faculty members). "I have really enjoyed the case studies. I learn by doing, so going through the case studies has really helped cement things for me. I would definitely recommend this program to my coworkers!"
Workshop provider: iSocial
Mission: "To radically improve the lives of people with autism."
Philosophy: We embrace people who think and learn differently. We don't believe we are fixing, healing, or curing people on the spectrum.
Team: Top experts in autism, corporate leadership, and training. All have direct ties to autism.
Origin: iSocial was created by teaming with the University of Missouri and the Thompson Center for Autism Research. Their $8 million research and development program created a social competency intervention that was proven effective with 1,000 subjects. There are 17 peer reviewed technical articles that describe the efficacy of the program.