Saturday afternoons from 3:00 to 5:00 for 10 weeks. There are 3 sessions per year beginning in September, April and January.
From the beginning, our Social Skills Program wanted to convey basic messages to the participants:
- We like you
- We know you are smart
- We know that you are good at some things
- We know some things are hard for you to do
Most children we see have some language processing difficulties, therefore we have clear and simple messages. We have one rule: "Everyone must feel safe" and two objectives: "Have fun" and "Help eachother with the things that are hard for us to do".
We have created a comfortable, caring environment by providing participants with safe, interesting toys, games and craft materials to cover many interests. As the children interact, we are able to see the specific areas of difficulty pertaining to each child and we can intervene in an immediate and understanding way. It is our belief that this helps children carry over their new behaviours to other settings. By telling children what they are doing right, we are able to convey our expectations to the group.
Some children return for several sessions and they become the models for new participants. They know what is expected and will often tell others "we don't do that here" or "we don't talk like that here" or "I used to do that too". They are comfortable enough to talk about sensitive issues and this helps newcomers open up too.
The Social Skills program runs for two hours every Saturday afternoon for ten weeks. The last week of each session is "Family Day" when participants invite parents, siblings and/or friends to come see what they have been doing with us.