Child/Adult Group Social Learning Therapy
For most people, interacting with others comes naturally. Social thinking is hard-wired at birth, learned intuitively, and therefore, often taken for granted.
However, for those with high-functioning autism, ADD/ADHD, social anxiety, or other social or self-regulation challenges, social skills do not come innately, and they’re often difficult to achieve. This type of challenge is considered a social learning challenge, or social cognition deficit, and children who face these difficulties need our help and support.
Children with social learning challenges are often misunderstood and thought to be aloof, annoying, or “problem children.” We believe that with proper support and guidance, they can increase their ability to think and be social and, ultimately, lead more enriched lives.
Since social learning is crucial to academic and emotional well-being, educators and therapists around the world are developing innovative treatments for those who are challenged in this area. These strategies help to break down and teach individuals what others learn spontaneously.
We teach the thoughts behind social skills and help students understand social rules, what is expected in social situations, and how to connect with others. We explore a wide range of topics and provide individualized lessons according to the age and ability of each child or group.
Sessions typically include:
- Connecting - 5 to 10 minutes of open-talk time to check in with each other and review previous concepts
- Group Lessons - Social cognitive strategies, vocabulary and concepts
- Practice/Unstructured Time - Functional and fun activities to practice skills with real-time feedback to reinforce the weekly concepts or lessons
- Parent/Caregiver Wrap-Up - Therapist reviews of the group’s lesson with parents/caregivers as students play games or watch videos related to that session’s lesson
We have experienced therapists on our team who will assess how your child interacts socially such as emotional regulation, perspective taking, emotions, conversation initiation and maintenance, and nonverbal and figurative language.
We work on:
- Emotional Regulation
- Play Skills
- Social Rules
- Perspective Taking
- Conversation Skills
- Body Language & Facial Expressions
- Problem Solving
- Friendships
- Executive Function