Social Skills Groups are designed for children and teenagers with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Disorder, or other developmental disorders that create delays or deficits in social skills. These skills are important to develop as the interactions and relationships that students have with one another can add to their social and emotional development, promote positive-adjustment, and affect their engagement and involvement in school (Gifford-Smith & Brownell, 2003; Rubin, Bukowski, & Laursen, 2009). Evidence-based research has indicated that quality instruction from educators and other adults that focus on social and communication skills can enhance students’ interactions and relationships with peers (Snell & Brown, 2011).

Autism Spectrum Disorder
Unlike neuro-typical children, ASD children do not observe and model their peers in order to learn appropriate social behaviors. Often, they miss the social cues necessary to survive in the social world and need to be systemically taught social skills in order for them to be able to successfully “navigate” the diverse social worlds of school, sports teams, home, and other community settings.

ADHD & Other Developmental Delays
Children with Attention Deficit Disorder have many of the same deficits. Indeed, they are sometimes unable to see social cues because of their distractibility and inability to focus on what the speaker is saying. Many children with ADD are great speakers but have deficits in their listening skills.

Classes Available
Social Skill Training is available for individuals, but group is recommended to generalize these skills. Currently, we have divided groups into three categories:

• Young (4-7)
• Middle (7-10)
• Tween/Teen (10 and up)
• Adult (17 and up)

These groups purposefully overlap in age so that we can give children the opportunity to practice developmentally appropriate skills in the most supportive environment to advance them socially.

Our social skills groups are tailored for the individuals within each group and focus on a variety of skills including but not limited to: greeting friends and classmates; initiating, maintaining, and ending conversations; requesting help; interpreting non-verbal social cues; dealing with bullying; emotional regulation; and understanding the “hidden curriculum” of appropriate school behavior.