Welcome to Friends Play Groups. Our play groups are designed for children on the autism spectrum and for those who are experiencing social skills delays. Using drama and theater activities, the play groups focus on these primary areas:
* Social Interaction
* Anger Management & Perspective Training
* Rejection & Problem Solving
* Repetitive Behaviors
* Social Skills & Communication
* Emotions & Body Language
Some children have difficulty understanding the thoughts and feelings of others. This can make everyday social situations stressful and uncomfortable. To teach children basic social skills, Friends Play Groups uses drama, pretend play and imagination with both auditory information and visual aids including props & costumes, to help make verbal concepts more concrete.
Using video images of the children themselves is what makes Friends Play Groups particularly unique. Students are given an initial instruction or a skill, usually through a short skit that they then act out. The skill is role played, or acted, with the instructor or other students. Corrective feedback and praise is given as the skill is reviewed. Watching themselves on video performing the skill allows children the ability to re-learn and practice the skill. After repeated practice in appropriate situations, along with viewing the DVD, the goal is that the child will generalize the skill in his or her everyday life.
Friends Play Groups uses positive reinforcement to demonstrate why it is important for the student to engage in these new skills. They will begin to understand perceptions, thoughts and feelings. Soon the student will begin to understand that the reason why they are learning these skills is because it makes the people they meet happy to play with them.
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Friends Play Group, Elem: Social Skills
Children ages 6 - 9 years old
Six, 60 minute meetings
Limited to eight students
Friends Play Group, K: Social Skills
Children ages 4 - 5 years old
Four, 60 minute meetings
Limited to eight students
Throughout the play group, using dramatic skits and theater games, children will learn and participate in specific social building activities that are progressive and spiral. This allows the children to generalize what they've learned into their personal lives and in school. The goal is to give children independence in each skill area.
This play group includes videotaping the students as they model their new
social skills. Since many children are visual learners, the images on
the DVD are an ideal teaching method to reinforce their new skills. The
video will be included on a DVD that each child will receive during the last meeting of the play group.
Each meeting focuses on particular skill sets, that build on each other as the meetings progress. The children will revisit earlier taught skills that includes real life practice. The children are filmed practicing each skill which will be divided by chapters on the take home DVD.
Children will learn:
1. Non-verbal communication
2. Body language
3. Friendly greetings and good-byes
4. Interrupting politely
5. Introducing ourselves
6. Conversational turn taking
7. Ending a conversation
8. Knowing when to stop talking
9. Asking someone to play
10. Turn taking
11. Sharing
12. Losing the game and fair play
13. Overview of the skills learned
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