Leah and Ashley discuss a project to start seeing children in a social group setting for extended time with other age related peers. What do we exactly mean by “social group”?
Social group concentrates primarily on social communication skills. We work on greetings, how to make a friend, what is a appropriate to say to other people, body language, as well as eye contact, which is done in a very natural environment with groups of 4 to 5 kids.
What is the difference between group and individual therapy? Some children may not have problems interacting with adults such as their parents or teachers, but have a breakdown talking to their school friends or neighbors.
In social groups we work on things that happen in life in real-time, working on things that happen on a daily basis with peers their own age.
Many of these kids who need social skills are high functioning, not just the “stereo-typical” autistic children or children with asbergers syndrome. Some kids that may have no speech or other diagnosis, simply need social skills training. They may not be able to make friends, don’t know what to say, or get in peoples faces or making inappropriate comments or simply overly shy.
If your child is already being seen by a speech therapist, let them know. If you need an evaluation, let the evaluator know all their communication issues, including social skills. Are they understanding “WH” questions? (who, what, where) Can they follow directions? Tell your SLP or school counselor.
There are standardized tests used to measure these social types of abilities.