Social Skills
Our Social Skills Program offers three groups which are organized around age and level of functioning. Fun Being Social for ages 4-7, Social Zone for ages 8-12, and Social Club for ages 13-16. These programs focus on improving a child’s ability to communicate, socially problem-solve, and self-manage (coping skills) in order to more appropriately develop and maintain positive social relationships.
Our Social Skills groups are led by licensed and certified Psychologists and Therapists with expertise in child development and the treatment of children with a variety of disabilities including Autism Spectrum Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder, mental retardation, Down’s Syndrome, and severe learning disabilities as well as other related childhood disorders.
Our Social Skills group assists children in developing interpersonal skills by teaching strategies for:
- active listening
- socially referencing (eye contact)
- reading and understanding social cues
- self-regulation
- coping when under stress
- self-monitoring behavior
- initiating and sustaining engagement
- understanding, identifying, and managing feelings
- responding to bullying, teasing, and peer pressure
Weekly themed topics are integrated with board games, art activities, books, role-playing, modeling, and practice to provide a variety of experiences promoting social abilities and assisting group members with using their newly acquired skills in real-life situations. Groups meet once a week for 90 minutes over a 10 week period.
Our groups are designed to meet the developmental needs of individual children. Prior to joining, every child receives a comprehensive evaluation which Program Leaders use to screen each child to ensure that the designated group is a good match.
