For many neurodiverse young people, the special education assistance they receive ends when they leave high school.
For all, federally mandated services stop when they turn 21.
But as they transition into adulthood, they often need help handling a new set of challenges: jobs, dating, and interacting with people beyond those they’ve known all their lives.
The late teens and early 20s are daunting times even for those who neurotypical. For people with autism and other differences, it can be overwhelming.
The Teen SLP can help.
Deirdre Flores
The Teen SLP is a multi-platform set of services offered by Deirdre Flores. A speech language pathologist (SLP) with a master’s degree from Columbia University, she has worked at Staples High School since 2012. Flores specializes in social skills interventions and language skills.
That means helping students understand vocabulary, listen comprehensively, organize and verbalize their thoughts, and self-advocate for their learning needs.
But she also works with them on pragmatic language skills: joining conversations, making friends, navigating group work in the classroom.
Through the Connections program at Fairfield University, she helps college-age students who are still part of the Westport Public Schools, but need additional special ed. supports. Each morning she runs communication and social skills groups.
Flores established The Teen SLP in 2021. She saw a need for tailored guidance and resources, at a critical phase of young lives.
Through The Teen SLP, she offers group and individual therapy.
Groups include Job-Related Social Skills, Dating Bootcamp, Making Social Connections, Video Game Social Skills and Conversation Groups.
This month, Flores runs “Financial Foundations,” covering ideas like paycheck deductions, how not to fall for scams, and wants vs. needs vs. savings.
This summer, she’ll lead “Technology for Independence.” It will cover things like using apps to figure out what all those laundry characters mean, or how to figure out the tip and split a restaurant bill.
Starting a conversation can be difficult for anyone — especially a young adult who is neurodivergent.
All along, Flores is focused on helping these young adults find friends. It’s tougher to do that after high school — and especially difficult for those who have difficulty with communication.
There are non-verbal skills to learn: Is that person flirting with me? Is my co-worker ignoring me?
How do I flirt? How can I project confidence when talking with my boss, a colleague or customer?
Even verbal communication — like understanding sarcasm — can be hard for neurodivergent people.
Flores provides a space for young adults to practice those skills, in a safe, non-judgmental environment.
“There are few things more important than making a personal connection with someone, when you have often felt alone and on the sidelines of conversation and life,” Flores says.
Her success stories “may not seem like a big deal for someone for whom social and language skills come naturally,” she knows.
But when a client gets coffee with co-workers outside of work, and organizes the hangout himself; when another creates her own friend group by creating a group text, then sets up regular weekend hangouts; and when another client asks someone out on a date, and converses asily throughout the evening — those are reasons to celebrate.
Especially when the young people communicate them on their own, excitedly, to her.
(For more information on The Teen SLP, click here.)
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