Tom tells the story of how working with Miss Pivot cured his autism and made it so he could function more like a neurotypical person without autism. Miss Pivot worked with Tom on social thinking issues that he struggled with and helped him to better understand the context of what other people were trying to communicate. They taught Tom how to read body language and facial expressions from others. Working with Miss Pivot was an experience unlike Tom had ever encountered working with his doctors and therapists. The big difference is in the social context of the environment that you are working on skills with. Miss Pivot took Tom to social environments where people his age were hanging out at in order to make friends and meet new people. Counselors, doctors, and therapist had always tried to teach Tom social skills in their office which had no social context to what people Tom's age would be doing or where they would be hanging out at. Role playing is a good tool to use for people with autism but it is not nearly as effective as actually going out and working on social skills in the field where you are able to practice in real time with real context of social situations. Miss Pivot worked hard with Tom on reading facial expressions and non-verbal communication to the point that Tom could actually approach girls he liked and talk to them. They taught Tom how to show better body language himself which in turn made him feel more confident and eager to approach others. Miss Pivot used a wing woman concept instead of a wing man to make other women feel more comfortable when Tom approached them. Having a woman approach with Tom lowered the guard of the group of women that Tom wanted to talk to because they saw another women with Tom and thought that he must be cool and safe. This is a story about how Miss Pivot changed Tom's life and helped him with autism. Here is an excerpt from the book. "Josh and Kevin taught me to do mirroring and look at myself in the mirror to practice my own body language. They were really great at giving me tips to improve my body language. They also asked me to describe the woman I approached at the bookstore's body language and asked me about her facial expressions. They wanted to know what the lady was trying to communicate with me non-verbally. Was she bothered by my approach and question or did she welcome it? Was she excited to give me some advice or was she upset or scared that a random person approached her to ask her this question. Being able to tell all of these things is like using social thinking skills to understand the social context of what you need to understand. It is very important that you are able to tell how the other person you are trying to talk to is feeling so that you can understand how to better relate to them."
About the Author: Tom is an author who resides on the Autism Spectrum. He loves reading and solving puzzles. He enjoys traveling and meeting new people. Tom works hard to overcome his autism and be successful and happy in life. Tom loves writing to help others understand him a bit more.