The world assumes that intelligent, bright children will learn social skills in an automatic and intuitive way. But for some children, especially those on the autism spectrum or with other developmental delays, this process needs to be taught and learned.
Challenging Skills
It can be surprising that a child who can easily master cognitive information has difficulty with skills such as:
- making and keeping friends,
- initiating play and conversation,
- winning and losing games,
- transitioning from one task to another, and
- understanding what peers and adults expect from them.
Social skills groups are the ideal setting to teach these skills to children and teens who do not naturally pick up and understand all of the different parts of social interactions. In these groups all of the different parts of social interactions can be broken down and concretely taught so that the student can develop a foundation of social thinking.
On the Spot Feedback
Effective social skills groups focus on teaching all of these parts of social thinking as well as giving children and teens opportunities to practice new skills. In real-life situations they are often not able to identify what they are doing to hurt themselves socially without facilitation. And individual therapy is not the answer because kids are not given the opportunities to learn from their missteps and/or try out more socially expected behaviors that facilitators are teaching.
In group settings, kids get “on the spot” feedback of their social missteps. Once a child gets consistent feedback as to the behaviors that get in the way of connecting to peers, they can understand why they need to learn different, more pro-social ways to connect and practice them in a safe, facilitated environment. Without that understanding most children just feel as if they are being corrected and constantly told to act in ways for which they have no frame of reference; this is rarely helpful.
How to Find a Social Skills Group
When searching for a social skills group for your child, look for one that takes time and care to place your child in a group that will offer a good fit in terms of age and social ability. Some of the best social skills groups will incorporate a variety of modalities. At Super Kids we employ expressive arts therapies to help children communicate about their social experiences, and present the children with activities aimed at fostering group cooperation. We also teach social understanding and coping strategies through cognitive-behavioral techniques. All of this is offered within a relational and empathic framework.
Valuable social skills groups will use verbal and non-verbal, as well as visual communication strategies that are designed to suit each child’s learning style. Therapists should give “on-the-spot” feedback when misperceptions and miscues occur so that children can begin to make more sense of their social interactions and the reactions of their peers. Feedback should be given in a positive, caring and specific manner as therapists help children work on their areas of difficulty and realize their strengths.
Be sure to find a group that will communicate a child’s progress to his or her parents through a weekly note so that language and visuals used in group can also be used at home and school.
To find a social skills group in your area, contact the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the Association for Play Therapy (APT), or your local Autism Society of America (ASA) chapter.
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