by Eric Fingerhut
Staff Writer
Being congratulated by your friends after bowling a strike isn't uncommon. But for young adults with Asperger's syndrome, who have difficulty with social interactions, such a celebration is something special.
So when someone knocked all 10 pins down last month at the second meeting of the YAWAS Club and everyone started "giving each other high fives," Dawn Kaye was very happy.
"They were so excited," said Kaye, a Jewish Social Service Agency clinical social worker and co-leader of the club for young adults with Asperger's. "I was really proud of the interaction."
Sponsored by JSSA and the Jewish Community Center of Northern Virginia, the YAWAS Club -- Young Adults With Asperger's Syndrome -- brought together 25 young adults from all over Northern Virginia for its kick-off meeting in March and 17 last month for bowling, followed by a pizza party back at the JCCNV.
Events are planned every six to eight weeks until the end of the calendar year, including miniature golf and a dinner at Ruby Tuesday's next month and a museum trip later in the year.
The group is designed for ages 18-30, with the average age of participants in their early 20s, said Dana Chilbert, JCCNV special needs coordinator and YAWAS co-director. She said that cohort is "really an underserved population" in the special needs world.
"Services are wonderful up until [age] 18," Chilbert said, but many county programs in Virginia end at that age. "Something is really needed. ... [They don't get] the opportunity to have a social environment that's safe for them," she said.
In that age group, those with Asperger's, a high-functioning form of autism, often go to school or have a job, Chilbert said. But because of their difficulties with socialization, they usually don't have a lot of friends. So they tend to become isolated and stay home a lot, often in front of their computers because that doesn't require face-to-face contact.
They have trouble picking up nonverbal social cues, noted Jean Gurman, whose daughter, Melissa, is a member of the YAWAS Club and who also chairs JCCNV's special needs steering committee. Thus, they may be chatting away, but not noticing signals from others expressing disinterest.
Verbal social cues, such as understanding the flow of normal conversations, also create challenges, and "interacting socially is so difficult that it creates anxiety," said Kaye.
So the social club is "really just letting them have a social outlet," she said.
It is the latest in a series of new programs that the JCCNV has developed in the past couple of years in an endeavor to expand its offerings for those with special needs. Among the efforts are social skills programs for young children, a Jewish enrichment class twice a month for children 6-13 years old and an expansion of its Camp Shalom curriculum for improving social skills from one two-week session for third- to fifth-graders to four sessions -- two each for grades 3-5 and grades 6-8.
Gurman said the expansion of the offerings, and the success in raising funds for them, demonstrates that the community can "really see the value" of providing special needs services.
"Our hope is we will be leaders" in Northern Virginia, she said.
The YAWAS Club grew out of social skills therapy groups Kaye has led at JSSA for the past three years, as a way to provide a social setting in which participants could practice.
While the club is sponsored by two Jewish organizations, the program is open to everyone. Kaye said about half the group is Jewish.
Chilbert said club meetings will start with an ice-breaker or two, such as "speed conversation," in which participants have two-minute talks with each other on a selected topic like one's favorite food.
"It's an opportunity for them in a structured environment to be able to talk about themselves," said Kaye. For instance, two people might realize that they both like fantasy fiction, and can exchange e-mail addresses and get together at another time.
"I like it. You get to go places," said Melissa Gurman, 22, who is a rising senior in the LIFE (Learning Into Future Environments) program at George Mason University. Gurman said she had made some new friends and "seen old ones, too."
"It's a lot of fun," she said, suggesting another bowling trip and going swimming as possible future activities.