Building social skills is an important life skill for everyone. Social skills help your child build friendships, participate in the community and be part of a team. Unfortunately, for many children (and adults) with autism, it can be extremely challenging.
To help kids develop these skills, EAS hosts weekly social skills groups for children with autism between the ages of 6 to 13. These group settings offer kids an opportunity to practice social skills with peers at the guidance of our trained clinicians. Our social playgroups for autism help kids practice skills like making conversation, taking turns, compromising, cooperating with others, and other everyday social situations.
Building social skills can be challenging, but practice can help give kids the confidence they need to develop new skills and participate in social activities as they get older.
How Do Social Skills Groups Work?
Social skills groups for autism offer a chance for your child to practice socializing and receive immediate feedback on how they’re doing. Our social skills group follows a curriculum that provides:
- Structure and predictability in your child’s schedule.
- A breakdown of social concepts such as body language or eye contact into concrete, actionable behaviors.
- Groups structured by language level to encourage working in pairs and communicating among peers.
- Multiple learning opportunities throughout each social skills group meeting.
- Improvement in your child’s self-awareness and self-esteem.
- Opportunities for children to practice social skills in real-life situations beyond the social skills group.
What Are the Benefits of a Social Skills Group?
Our autism social groups allow your child to develop foundational social skills and behaviors they will need throughout the rest of their lives. In addition to teaching these necessary skills, our social skills group provides benefits such as:
- Improving communication skills: Whether your child begins the group with limited social skills or none at all, many parents report seeing a positive difference in their child after attending the group. Many children also use the skills they learn to make friends outside the social group.
- Developing problem-solving skills: Working in a group setting often results in conflict. In our social groups for autism, your child will learn the tools they need to solve conflict and work with others to resolve issues.
- Building self-confidence: We uplift every child in our social skills group with positive behavior support and encourage them to practice their skills outside the group. Our social skills group also allows your child to create a sense of purpose and belonging as they make long-term friends.
- Creating a safe space: Our Behavior Technicians and Applied Behavior Analysts monitor our social skills group for autism and will redirect and discuss any inappropriate social interactions that occur to ensure the group is a welcoming environment for all.
- Letting your child have fun: Most importantly, our autism social skills groups are fun for your child and allow them to play and interact with their peers while building essential abilities.
Register Your Child for a Social Group for Autism Near You Today
If you’d like to learn more about our social skills groups or register for one, please give our team a call or click on the link below.
(* Note * These groups currently meet remote via Zoom due to Covid. However, the typical setting would be in one of our therapy centers. Groups typically meet after school for one hour each week for eight weeks.)
