Would speech therapy classes help someone like me?

[Anonymous]

I'm 28 and I don't have a social network of any kind. I'm so lonely, and I don't have anyone to hang out with.

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I think that I must have a disease of some kind. I wonder if speech therapy would help me learn how to make friends.

Do you guys think that it will? What kind of experience do you have with speech therapy? Or, what do you know about it at least?

Definitely will help

Likely that it will help

Moderate possibility of success

Unlikely that I will benefit from it

Absolutely will not help me

[AshleyB19]

I think you should find out what exactly is going on with you first. I would suggest psychologist. I believe he could advise you what approach is the right one for you. It is hard for us to tell if it would help or not since we have no information about you. And if you are not capable of analyzing why you are in this situation, it is definitely time for a psychologist. Don´t be scared to go to one, I have been and it does´t hurt :), although it is a bit awkward at first. As I said it is hard for us to tell you what to do if we don´t know what exactly keeps you from making contact with other people..it might be low self-esteem or trauma from childhood, but it also might be some kind of autism, for example the Asperger syndrome (I don´t mean to scare you, it is just a guess, since my brother has it and he is perfectly, he just has trouble communicating with other people - between other things). So, really, try a specialist. And don´t worry, it will be OK, you just have to find out what to do first and then everything will start to get better. Just see someone as soon as possible, life is too short to waste it alone :). I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

[Asker]

I've seen psychologists before, and it usually ends with me disliking them and feeling that my time was wasted.

But, what kind of specialist does someone with Asperger's see? Don't they usually classify treatment of autisms under General Health instead of under Mental Health for your Health Insurance?

I don't recall exactly what kind of treatment that my health insurance information was talking about, but it didn't cover Autism under Mental health, but under Medical.

[december1990]

Okay, honestly first of sounds to me like you are lonely. You need to get out there more. Hell, go to college, take college courses not just communications but somethign else your interested in and there make friends.

Honestly your 28 you shouldn't be feeling sad and lonely you have lots in life to live for. Anyways here's a prayer for you:

Dear God, help this guy to make friends and be happy help him to appreciate his life and see that he has a lot going for him. Help him to create dreams, go after them, and accomplish them and bring the right people in his life to do so.. give this guy confidence to in Jesus Name we pray Amen.

[Asker]

Thanks for your prayer.

[Kain6th]

You have hobbies right? well try out meetup.com. Just type in your hobby into the search bar and it will show you places where people meetup and share that hobby together. great way to meet friends!

Give that a try instead

[Asker]

Maybe I will, but to be honest I'd feel kind of nervous meeting a group of people I don't know. It seems that things like this were easier while I was in college because it was part of campus activities. But, for something random like this, it feels a little scary because I wouldn't know what exactly I would be getting into.

[islands7]

link

[UberTroll]

Speech therapy will only help you if you have some kind of speech impediment. But it doesn't sound like that's your problem. It sounds like you're mostly concerned with your social impairments, which a speech therapist would not be able to help you with. Flexy gives good advice: public speaking/theater anything that forces you to get up in front of people and talk would be beneficial. You may also want to consider talking to a therapist or psychologist to get to the source of your problem.

[Asker]

Thanks, but a psychologist would be a frustrating waste of time and money. I've tried that before and would prefer to avoid seeing one in the future.

Even if there's any usefulness in psychological therapy, I honestly think that it's not likely that I would see this because the psychologist is not likely to want me to be "cured". It's in their best interest if I keep coming back to them, so, likely, they're not ever going to help me resolve the problem that I came to them with.

[Lights]

Theres only so much a speech therapist can teach you, but one thing you'll have to do if actually get out there and meet people for your self. Try joining a club or even a sports team.. some where you'll be in a team environment and around others.

I'm sure speech therapy can help a little (Choose B.) if you want to start with that go for it, you know you best.. but actual experience around others will probably be more suitable for you and your problem, if you even have one. Good luck (:

[Lights]

is*

[Asker]

Thanks. I just need to try to find a way to go out and meet people then.

[kmhco]

If you don't stutter or have any other speech impediment (which you probably don't if you haven't had to go to speech therapy by now) it won't do anything for you. If you think it might be a mental disorder you can go to a psychiatrist to see if they can diagnose you.

[Asker]

But, what kind of mental disorder? I don't think that I have one, but I honestly couldn't tell you why I have bad people skills though.

[kmhco]

well I'm not an expert or anything but if you have a hard time relating to people it could be a high-functioning level of autism like aspergers...you can even find tests online if you don't want to pay for the medical bills, but you just want to see if you have something (just take whatever results you get with a grain of salt).

[Asker]

But, do psychiatrists treat people for Autism or Asperger's? Don't they have someone else who handles these kinds of problems?

[kmhco]

I would imagine they would, they would definitely refer you to a specialist if not...

[Anonymous]

speech therapy is more about how to move your tongue in your mouth and the physical movements of speech

[Asker]

How about speech patterns? I mean, like how about what I actually say in my sentences? Wouldn't it also cover that as well?

[Opinion Owner]

yeah, that would help! I mean, pronunciation of words has a lot to do with the placement of the tongue in the mouth anyway. You could always go for a consult and see what they say.

[Asker]

Well, I recently got braces, and they put a bite blocker in my mouth. So, how I pronounce words has been negatively affected drastically.

After the bite blocker is no longer needed, I might have reason to see one to see if there is anything wrong with my speech.

[Opinion Owner]

Are you going to go?

[Asker]

Not sure. Maybe after I finish with my braces? I'd have to have money for speech therapy first.

[Opinion Owner]

I don't think it'd matter much. You could do it with braces

[Flexy]

Confidence/acting classes.. get off the internet, just go out there, go shopping, ask questions, interact with other people.. the best way is by living it.

[Asker]

Acting classes? I took an acting class one time during college. The professor in that class hated me, though. lol.

I go shopping and I ask people questions. But, I don't know how that would help me meet people. I tried with people at work, but that didn't work out.

[emzy-89]

I don't see how a soeech therapist would help, I think a psychologist would be a better idea, they could help you with your self-confidence and you could practice having conversations with them in sessions to help you be a better conversationalist

[Asker]

Yeah, but I have had nothing but bad experience with them. I don't think that I going to see one would be a good idea. The ideal solution to me would be one where we have a set time where we would meet. If it's effective therapy, then I shouldn't have to see the therapist for an indefinite number of sessions.

[kheserthorpe]

You might get better results with an ABA therapist who's has experience doing social skills training with teens on the autism/aspergers spectrum.

[Asker]

What's an ABA therapist?

[kheserthorpe]

Applied behavioral analysis. They may also call the self an IBI worker. You could probably research a lot of social skill training online.

[Asker]

Looking up ABA on Wikipedia, I see some of the terms that I recall from taking Psychology of Learning in college. I remember reading about classical conditioning, extinction, etc. on animals that scientists studied.

I don't see how ABA could be its own science, however. Maybe I need to research this more, but does this have any applied therapeutic use?

[kheserthorpe]

Yes.

In fact you can use ABA on yourself :p.

That said my suggestion was basically to find a therapist with experience doing social skills training for autism spectrum teens. Because it would potentially be useful.

[Anonymous]

There's always a chance. Did you end up going g to any

[Asker]

No, I didn't. Family thought that it would be a waste of time and money and I sort of thought that might be the case. However, I would like to be more approachable and be confident that I can do the approaching as well.

[Anonymous]

I think a communications class would be better try a community college a lot of people do it in the summer

[Asker]

Maybe studying communication theory would benefit me? I don't know, however, because college courses are costly and they usually have them during the day when I am likely to be working.

[Opinion Owner]

O then make friends at work

[Asker]

I tried, but it didn't work out. I know that people don't have to hang out with me, but I don't like getting made fun or taken advantage of either. The way that people treat me makes me wish that I was dead.

[Opinion Owner]

what about cousins

[Asker]

Not possible with that either. My cousins live too far away. My mom, dad, and brothers live too far away. My job wants me to move to somewhere that requires a plane for me to see anyone that I know.

My future is starting to look more bleak in regards to me getting a social network.

[Opinion Owner]

Maybe do community service or make friends with strangers

[GABBIJJ]

i like ice-cream!

[Asker]

Me too!