About Our Social Skills Groups
Social learning is one of the most effective and naturally occurring forms of reinforcement in an individual’s daily life. Social awareness and communication are a major part of the barriers that commonly affect individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
The Social Skills Program at Connect Plus Therapy is designed to support individuals on the spectrum who have difficulty creating and maintaining meaningful social relationships. Our home and community clients can attend social skills groups (SSGs) within their treatment plan in collaboration with their BCBA and caregiver.
Elementary Age Group
The elementary group focuses heavily on the prerequisite skills required to develop social relationships, such as social communication, joint attention skills, and increasing the motivational value of natural social reinforcement.
This group also concentrates on teaching clients how to appropriately play and work with their peers, identify and express feelings and emotions, self-management in social settings, friendship-making skills, and how to deal with competition.
Tween Time
The Tween group serves individuals that have difficulties with social relationships and friendship-making skills.
They primarily focus on aspects of self-management and how we affect others. They participate in discussions on empathy, perspective-taking, dealing with bullying, and community safety awareness.
Individuals are often more verbally social and capable of communicating with peers but often have trouble creating and maintaining meaningful social relationships.
Teen Night
Our teenagers focus on developing and maintaining friendships and communication regarding conflict, problem-solving, having meaningful conversations and adjusting to new social situations. This includes
dealing with environmental stressors, changes in routine, character development, understanding unspoken social rules, navigating the transition from teen to adulthood, the complex aspects of dating, and electronic communication.
All programs and lessons are modified to focus on each attendee’s unique needs. In addition, our Social Skills Group and Home and Community Services clinical teams collaborate to ensure the learned skills are generalized into the home and community settings.