INTRODUCING OUR BRAND NEW SOCIAL SKILLS GROUPS

CURRENTLY RECRUITING FOR SESSION 2:

Session Dates:

Session 2: January 6th — March 19th

*Registration for Session 2 ends December 30th*

 

Session 3: March 30th — June 11th

*Registration for Session 3 ends March 16th*

Cost:

Tuition is $700 per 10 week session

$350 due at time of registration

Insurance billing may be available

Sign Up:

Call 847–933-9339 for more information or to sign up

 

GROUPS AND TIMES:

Mondays:

How To Quiet the Storm — 4:15pm-5:15pm — Dr. Erin Caskey

This group will provide learning and activities to promote coping strategies for anxiety in girls ages 10–14. Group members will be able to receive emotional support from their peers and the group leader, as well as improve social skills, coping skills, and build confidence in navigating every day problems. The group will be collaborative with the group members and the leader and be able to be tailored to the specific needs of the group. 

Tuesdays:

Social Butterflies — 4:30pm-5:30pm — Kristen Vincent

This group is designed for young boys and girls ages 5–8 who would benefit from the direct teaching of fundamental social/language skills using elements from Michelle Garcia Winner’s evidenced based curriculum materials. These children may be struggling at school or at home following along with group activities, initiating and maintain conversations, playing cooperatively, taking the perspectives of others and participating in problem solving. By the end of the session, children will increase awareness of and abilities related the following skills:

• identification and usage of appropriate non‐verbal communication
• whole body to listen
• group plans and expectations in different types of groups (e.g. teams, classes, play groups)
• building friendship and conversational skills
• recognizing sizes of problems and appropriate reactions

Wednesdays:

Regulation/Relaxation — 10:00am-11:00am — Dr. Amanda Lucchetti

This group will encourage body awareness, movement, breath control, language, and visual imagery for pre‐school boys and girls ages 3–5

Secret Agents — 4:15pm-5:00pm — Dr. Meir Hauser

Welcome to the Secret Agent Academy! Here you will learn all the skills needed to become a member of the Secret Agent Society. In this 10 week training course, you will be trained on how to spy out emotions in others, control your own emotions, and cope with confusion and making mistakes. At the end of this training, you will graduate as a full‐fledged Secret Agent ready to tackle social interactions wherever you may find them. This program is a combination of therapist led computer game and a cooperative board game where students learn a variety of social skills all in a fun and engaging format, teaching kids to become “secret agents” for social cues and how to “blend in” by using appropriate social skills in a variety of settings. Children will learn skills on how to meet new people, talk and play with others, and deal with bullying or teasing. The group is designed for boys and girls ages 8–12 with high functioning autism or general social skills challenges (e.g., difficulties with social approach, reading social cues, social awareness). 

Guild Chronicles — 5:30pm — 6:30pm — Dr. Meir Hauser

Imagine a world full of fantasy, mystery, and magic. Terrible creatures roam the unexplored wildernesses, kings rule over the lands, and the world is full of elves, dwarves, dragons, and other fantastical creatures. You are entering the land of Guild Chronicles, a table top, role‐playing game where players imagine themselves as heroes in an interactive story with fantasy themes. The story is led by the group leader and the participants each control a character in the story. Each character has a set of attributes that he/she can develop through the course of the story and as goals are achieved. In this group, adolescents between the ages of 11–14 learn cooperative problem solving skills, teamwork, and working towards collective goals in a fun, imaginative, environment that is similar to that of games like Dungeons and Dragons. This group is designed for adolescents boys and girls with high functioning autism or general social skills challenges (e.g., difficulties with social problem solving, working as a group, social pragmatics). 

Thursdays:

Skills for Life Success — 4:15pm-5:15pm — Dr. Lindsay (Hardy) Duffy and Dr. Ashley Lambert

Skills for Life Success is a group designed for boys and girls with high functioning autism or mild intellectual disabilities who are between the ages of 17–22 who are in need of developing pragmatic skills for life success. Teens and young adults who may be a good fit for this group are those who are independent in most basic daily living skills (e.g., toileting, showering), spend at least some of their day (or did so in the past if they have already graduated from high school) with general education peers, have at least a fourth grade reading level, and display fluent language skills. Participants should be able to engage in respectful, productive dialogue with both peers and facilitators as well as a degree of self‐reflection. Topics to be addressed include: problem solving styles, money management, household management, time management and goal setting, interviewing and professional comportment, and emotional awareness. 

Social Leaders — 4:30pm-5:30pm — Kristen Vincent and Dr. Linday (Hardy) Duffy

This group is designed for older school‐aged boys and girls ages 9–12 who would benefit from support to continue to develop higher level social/language skills, using elements from Michelle Garcia Winner’s evidenced based curriculum materials.  These students may demonstrate some fundamental social‐pragmatic skills but are struggling at school or at home making and maintaining friendships, using active listening and turn taking skills, taking the perspectives of others, recognizing higher level social cues,  and managing conflicts. By the end of the session, students will learn strategies that will help manage their own skills and will help them appropriately perceive and respond to others.