descriptions
New
Clients:
Generally,
all new clients ages 4-11 start out by taking “Catching on to
Getting Along.”
Clients
ages 12+ generally take “Tweens/Teens Talk & Tweens/Teens
Rock.”
However,
we offer over thirty options. Please see Catalog on
Downloads Page for further descriptions.
“Catching
on to Getting Along”
The
seemingly simple, yet, in practice, very complex art of getting
along with others is a set of skills that enriches everyone’s
life and provides for the personal satisfaction of social success.
Basic
to getting along with others are social interaction skills that
initiate and sustain contact effectively. Along with lessons
on introducing oneself, inviting others to play, joining others at
play, sharing, apologizing and accepting apologies, offering to
help, and giving and receiving compliments, “Catching on to
Getting Along” helps participants understand appropriate eye
contact and body placement, maintaining focus, shifting attention
focus, sustaining joint attention, and understanding others’
perspectives.
Daily
Routine: Begin
with a sensory start (swing, steamroll, and deep pressure) in the
Sensory Room. Move to the Friendship Room where we use a
visual schedule, do a feeling check-in with feelings cubes, lesson
(sometimes a social skills video or role play and work in
notebooks), have a snack, and earn positive reinforcement points
using a group marble jar. Then, enjoy therapeutic recreation
activities with guided play (air hockey, ping pong, board games,
parachute, bounce house...) to expand upon and promote
generalization of the lessons’ goals. End with support
circle and the good-bye song. A feedback sheet showing
reminders and comments is provided and client’s may take their
notebooks home or share them with their school or therapists, etc.
Goals:
Participants
will increase
skills in
the following
areas:
*
Sustaining joint
attention with
peers on
activities they
choose and on
activities a
peer chooses.
*
Sustaining appropriate
eye contact
and body
placement during
communication
and
interactions
with
peers
and
adults.
*
Shifting attention
and focus
among subjects,
activities, and thoughts.
*
Introducing
self to
peers and
adults.
*
Starting and
sustaining reciprocal
conversations with
peers and adults;
Ending conversations.
*
Demonstrating caring
for peers
by sharing,
taking turns,
asking and answering
questions, and
helping.
*
Offering and
giving help
in appropriate
ways and
managing feelings and
behaviors when
the offer
is declined.
*
Recognizing when
an apology
is needed
and making
apologies to
peers and
adults in
appropriate
ways.
*
Giving and
accepting compliments.
“TWEENS/TEENS
TALK & ROCK”
1
hr. “classroom” instruction time with 1 ˝ - 4 hrs. of
Therapeutic Recreation to reinforce skills and promote
generalization
Along with Addressing Individual IEP goals, During Tweens/Teens
Talk, Participants will:
- Increase
their communication skills related to solving problems in
their social, school, and home lives
- Develop
understanding and motivation for caring what others think
- Increase
their social thinking (social cognition), including, but not
limited to:
- Taking
Perspective
- Taking
Initiative
- Being
a Good Listener
- Abstracting
and Inferring
- Gestalt
(“big picture”) Thinking
·
Increase
awareness of behaviors that need changing
·
Increase
skills related to self-monitoring behaviors
·
Increase
skills related to self-control of behaviors
(Tweens/Teens
Talk will follow the curriculum “Inside Out: What Makes
a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick?” written by
Michelle Garcia Winner, “The Hidden Curriculum” by
Brenda Smith Myles, “Relationship Development Intervention”
by Steven Gutstein, “Room 28” from LinguiSystems, et
al, social skills games and videos and more.)
During Tweens/Teens Rock, Participants will:
·
Practice
skills they learn in Tweens/Teens Talk in facilitated social
activities
·
Demonstrate
increasing ability to think about others during facilitated social
activities
·
Demonstrate
increasing motivation to interact with others, peers and group
leaders
·
Increase
in comfort level and skills necessary for successful participation
in a variety of activities
·
Increase
in skills related to accepting and benefiting from others’
feedback
·
Develop
increasing independence in a variety of social situations and
activities
