Re: How frequent should social skills groups be?

March 7, 2011

This is such a fun age. They are such little cuties.

If you have your child in special needs preschool 3 times a week and if you go

to some typical mommy and me classes and if you go to the

park and invite some peers over once or twice a week this is going to

be a lot of social exposure.

As a parent you have the most interaction, look at the Floortime

website by Dr. Greenspan. He has an evidence based program

that teaches parents how to draw your child out of their

restricted interests and include you.

Kids with AS often do learn the social rules, what holds them

back often is problems staying emotionally regulated and

being too compulsive with there interests.

In the summer their are lots of kids at the community pool,

at parks at little gym classes.

Have your child around kids their age and try to at least

set up a play date once a twice a week so that you

expose your child to having people over and vice versa.

Social skill classes are not going to hurt. But hopefully

your child will get that at the TECCH program. When

your child is older and feels he is not included it can fill a void. They can be

helpful as the child gets

older if they are receptive to learning about how other

people think (not all AS kids are receptive) like the

Michele Winner program (which is better suited for kids

about 7 or older). But I wouldn't spend a lot of money

on this now.

We were able to set up play dates 2-3 times a week with

typical peers until about the age of 9. Make it 1:1

if they are any issues in a group. Kids at age 3-4 still

play a lot 1:1. But you want to try to facilate some

activity that is joint attention (ball throwing, eating a

snack, playing with play doh together) Oh there

were so many issues with sharing and ridgid behavior to deal with.

I would work on things with other typical peers,

small art classes, small swim classes, visiting the YMCA

family night if they have one.

If there are any behavior issues learn about shaping behaviors

with positive reinforcement or even get a certified behaviorist

to teach you, many insurance companies will cover this now.

Pam

>

> Hi all,

>

> I am looking into some preschool social skills groups for my 3 1/2 year old

son. We are on the waiting list for a fall session at TEACCH, and may be able to

get into something else in the meantime over the summer. There is also another

program which comes highly recommended (with a price tag to match) that is more

of an ongoing thing - 6-8 week sessions pretty much throughout the year. I was

wondering how many sessions of these social skills groups need to be attended

over the course of a year to make an impact? Do most preschoolers go to a couple

of 6-8 week groups per year, or do they need to be more ongoing? It is different

for the little kids, since there is not a weekly social skills group option in

school like there might be in elementary school.

>

> Thanks!

>

> Bridget

>

March 7, 2011

Thanks for sharing your experiences, Pam. Right now my son goes to a regular

(not special needs) preschool 2 mornings a week. We also have play dates about 2

times a week on non-school days. He sees a developmental therapist once a week,

who alternates one week at home so she can teach me techniques, and one week at

school. Her approach is primarily Floortime, and she also makes use of a variety

of other techniques to teach emotional regulation.

The reason that we were told to seek out social skills classes is to work very

directly on non-verbal language and pragmatics. The psychologist who made the AS

dx and a SLP who recently did a comprehensive language evaluation both

recommended social skills groups to address these areas. Some examples of need

would be turning to look at a person when speaking to them so they know they are

being addressed or waiting for an answer if he asks someone to play (instead of

running off before the other child has a chance to say yes).

The developmental therapist has noted that my son does not understand the

unspoken rules of play and what his classmates are communicating to him with

their bodies, gestures, etc. While his teachers do an outstanding job of

teaching general socialization (turn taking, sharing, using polite language and

so on), the step by step training that my son needs in non-verbal and pragmatic

language is beyond the scope of what they can do. That is why we have been

looking into a more formalized program. Did you ever try anything like that when

your son was little?

Thanks,

Bridget

> >

> > Hi all,

> >

> > I am looking into some preschool social skills groups for my 3 1/2 year old