Social Skills Group Therapy
Social skills group therapy is designed to offer help to children, ages 5-16, with making and keeping friends; learning how to read social cues and to respond appropriately to them, starting conversation, ending conversation, understanding when someone is your friend or not your friend, and so much more.
Extensive research on the effects of social skills training on children with these challenges shows that social skills therapy programs are effective in reducing a child's experience of school failure or rejection as well as the aggressiveness and isolation that often develop because of problems relating to others.
Many children and adolescents have problems communicating with others because they fail to notice or don’t understand other people's cues, whether verbal or nonverbal. For example, some children become unpopular with peers because they force their way into small play or social groups; they don’t acknowledge the presence of others; they don’t know when to stop talking about a topic of interest to them; and they generally do not show empathy. Learning to understand another person's spoken or unspoken messages or increasing “emotional intelligence” is as important a skill as learning to read and write.
The goal of social skills group therapy is for children to gain skills in social interaction, joint attention, having fun together with others, problem solving together, and learning to handle the challenges of social situations at school, extracurricular activities and at home. Some of the topics taught and experienced during social skills group therapy include:
The most effective form of social skills group therapy is when therapists begin by breaking down complex social behaviors into smaller portions. Next, they arrange these smaller parts in order of difficulty, and gradually introduce them to children and teens. For example, the concept of giving compliments is a skill that may be divided into such subjects as beginning, holding, and ending conversations, or expressing feelings in appropriate ways.
In a group, children are able to learn and practice social skills. A social skills therapy group should have a learning time and built in time for peer interaction. Group leaders can use this time to “coach” children in “real life” interactions; an absolutely vital component of the group. Therapists can directly intervene during a conflict and re-direct an interaction or they can positively reinforce positive interactions.
Also vital is that a group setting is more structured and safe than real-life peer settings, so that fear of rejection and teasing is decreased and willingness to try new social behaviors is increased. Also, children receive immediate, constructive feedback from peers.
As children’s social skills improve and they gain practice and reinforcement for positive social behavior, their self-esteem and self-esteem increase. Greater confidence enables children to try new social behaviors with peers outside the group. In this way, the skills learned throughout the group can be generalized to the relationships within their peer group.
Ready to start your child on a successful Social journey, learn how to join our next Social Skills Group Therapy session or fill out contact form below.
Extensive research on the effects of social skills training on children with these challenges shows that social skills therapy programs are effective in reducing a child's experience of school failure or rejection as well as the aggressiveness and isolation that often develop because of problems relating to others.
Many children and adolescents have problems communicating with others because they fail to notice or don’t understand other people's cues, whether verbal or nonverbal. For example, some children become unpopular with peers because they force their way into small play or social groups; they don’t acknowledge the presence of others; they don’t know when to stop talking about a topic of interest to them; and they generally do not show empathy. Learning to understand another person's spoken or unspoken messages or increasing “emotional intelligence” is as important a skill as learning to read and write.
The goal of social skills group therapy is for children to gain skills in social interaction, joint attention, having fun together with others, problem solving together, and learning to handle the challenges of social situations at school, extracurricular activities and at home. Some of the topics taught and experienced during social skills group therapy include:
- Using and understanding appropriate body language
- Understanding other people’s body language such as facial expressions
- Understanding emotions and expressing emotions
- Initiating interactions such as play, conversation, etc.
- Responding to interactions from others
- Engaging in activities with others
- Taking turns
- Understanding emotions and expressing emotions
- Gaining self control
- Anger management
- Problem solving
- Coping with teasing and bullying
- Accepting consequences
- Negotiating
- Initiating interactions such as play, conversation, etc.
- Responding to interactions from others
The most effective form of social skills group therapy is when therapists begin by breaking down complex social behaviors into smaller portions. Next, they arrange these smaller parts in order of difficulty, and gradually introduce them to children and teens. For example, the concept of giving compliments is a skill that may be divided into such subjects as beginning, holding, and ending conversations, or expressing feelings in appropriate ways.
In a group, children are able to learn and practice social skills. A social skills therapy group should have a learning time and built in time for peer interaction. Group leaders can use this time to “coach” children in “real life” interactions; an absolutely vital component of the group. Therapists can directly intervene during a conflict and re-direct an interaction or they can positively reinforce positive interactions.
Also vital is that a group setting is more structured and safe than real-life peer settings, so that fear of rejection and teasing is decreased and willingness to try new social behaviors is increased. Also, children receive immediate, constructive feedback from peers.
As children’s social skills improve and they gain practice and reinforcement for positive social behavior, their self-esteem and self-esteem increase. Greater confidence enables children to try new social behaviors with peers outside the group. In this way, the skills learned throughout the group can be generalized to the relationships within their peer group.
Ready to start your child on a successful Social journey, learn how to join our next Social Skills Group Therapy session or fill out contact form below.