Introversion is one of the most debilitating personality qualities. Introverts feel uncomfortable with open communication and tend to withdraw from social activities. Because of their low level of social empathy, introverts often take life too personally and are rarely willing to try new things.
Introverted individuals are usually characterized by a fear of social situations. Introverts don't like to be the center of attention. They also don't like to be vulnerable. Introverts are not normally extroverted but have a tendency to prefer being alone to interacting with a lot of people. As a result, people who are extremely introverted may seem aloof and distant and do not generally reach out for others.
Extremely introverted people are often misunderstood. Many think that these individuals have an extreme dislike of society. But in actuality, these people have just gone through a major life changing event - possibly a death, divorce, job loss, or some other trauma. These people have not learned how to deal with their newfound introversion and so they remain extremely introverted.
Introverts have a number of symptoms that are similar to those of social anxiety disorder. The biggest difference is that introverts don't suffer from fear, panic attacks, blushing, or excessive sweating. They also do not have unrealistic fears of having to perform poorly in social situations or feel guilty about their personality. On the other hand, extreme introverts often engage in persistent patterns of behavior that are symptoms of social anxiety disorder - such as constantly worrying about what other people think or talking incessantly.
Extroverts, on the other hand, are extremely introverted and seek out social situations where there is a great deal of interaction. These people will rarely ever be involved in group activities or any situation where there is a lot of noise. Extroverts tend to think more clearly and quicker than their introverts. However, if an introvert is around someone that is very outgoing, they may get frustrated and start to talk incessantly.
We need to ask ourselves "How did you become extremely introverted?" If we can discover the main cause, we can take steps towards correcting it. Many introverts get into denial or depression. Unfortunately, they think that it is all in their head. And if someone tries to tell them that it's all in their head, they'll become even more depressed.
If we can understand why we get introverted, we can begin to determine how we can help ourselves. What I learned about myself is that I need to be around people who encourage me to be what I am and that includes letting people know how I feel when I'm being shy. And that's where I got the best advice about how to become more outgoing - from people who are outgoing themselves! And that's where I'm going from now on.
I think it might be helpful if we took some things into consideration when we're trying to decide how autistic children can be helped by us. For example, you may have a child who is very shy, but he has a huge ability with language. He may not be able to talk, but he's good with vocabulary. Or he might be great with computer games, but can't ever make up his mind when it comes to playing pretend games with others. So these are things that we could look at and see where you might be able to improve in yourself, so that you become more effective at dealing with kids with autism.
And I think it is interesting you bring up social skills, but we have no idea how you came up with that correlation. Have you thought about this correlation? If you look around the world, most introverts have other extroverts in their group or at least they are skilled at being more sociable, and so they can find themselves in places where extroverts are more easily able to socially interact, and they can learn to be more socially competent. So that may be one of the things that you were thinking of.
Now then, I am not an expert in the area. But I would say that in today's society, being an introvert is certainly not the most desirable thing a person can be. In fact, I would say that extreme introverts should concentrate harder on being social. There is plenty of socialization out there for people with high intelligence. If we give them an opportunity, high intellect and great social skills, they will take full advantage of that.
In fact, if I had 2 best friends who I loved to hang out with exclusively but other than that; I probably would have chosen a solitary sports like golf, tennis, hiking, mountain biking, running, fishing etc. So I guess I did have an extreme introvert gene because I hung out alone. And yes, that was just my personality. I ran cross country twice, cycled, kayaked once, swam regularly and did all that stuff, but never chose to hang out with other people.