Our Social Skills groups are designed to create opportunities for positive peer interactions and successful community integration experiences. We have a variety of programs geared for all ages to help address various social skills needs. Groups may be ongoing throughout the year or:
Preschool
These groups benefit children that may have difficulty with social interactions, difficulty in developing and maintaining friendships, and other behaviors that may interfere with appropriate social interactions.
Children who demonstrate the following challenges would benefit from these programs:
- Personal Space and Body Language
- Unexpected social interactions
- Shy/fearful interactions or overly friendly advances towards others
- Difficulty participating in community outings or playdates
- Difficulty in developing and maintaining friendships
- Difficulty with expected social responses
Elementary
These groups are for school-aged children that could benefit from structured peer interactions. The children participate in groups of 6 to 10 run by teams of pediatric occupational therapists, social workers &/or speech and language pathologists trained in social skills. Our therapists also have experience or training in Social Thinking, Cognitive Behavioral therapy, Sensory Integration, and play therapy. The children participate in weekly one-hour sessions of fun-filled activities, which focus on specific social skills that relate to the needs of the participants. The therapists also spend time with families to find out their goals, as well as, constantly assessing the group dynamics to determine topic areas that need to be addressed. Children who demonstrate the following challenges would benefit from this program:
- Participating in and maintaining conversations
- Joining conversations
- Understanding and expressing emotion
- Cooperative and interactive play skills
- Making and keeping a friend
- Good sportsmanship
- Self-awareness
- Emotional Regulation
- Bullying
- Problem solving
Teen talk
Teen talk provides an opportunity to foster independence and positively impact the way our age 13-18 adolescents transition into adulthood.
Social skills are addressed through a combination of group meetings, community trips, vocational skills activities, and special projects in an enjoyable and educational social setting where friendships can be nurtured. Teen Talk provides an opportunity to foster independence and positively impact the way our adolescent clients transition into adulthood. Community outings to restaurants, stores and more are held as a means to practice and generalize newly acquired skills. Parents are also provided with educational opportunities to assist in preparing their teens for a more independent and rewarding life as an adult. Teen talk sessions are held weekly for an hour.
Teens who would benefit from this program learn:
- Increased awareness and knowledge related to safety issues for independence.
- to initiate, interpret and respond to the verbal and non-verbal social cues
- About relationships, personal hygiene, self-care skills and more.
- To identify and develop shared interests and hobbies.
- To problem solve complex social situations impacting teens (i.e. prom, bullying, Facebook, etc.).
- Improved self-awareness
- Ability to advocate for themselves.