Greeting your peers. Taking turns during a board game. Sharing your markers. These are all skills kids generally pick up from being at school and playing with other kids. But for neurodiverse children (especially those on the autism spectrum) social skills can be difficult to understand and learn. Yet they are essential to every aspect of life from work situations to friendships—and even just being able to get along with others in the community on a day-to-day basis.
Enter social skills groups, which are meetings of varying sizes comprised of children with different needs and skill sets all working with a trained ABA (applied behavior analysis) therapist to increase their understanding and practical application of how people communicate with one another.
Rebecca Zegas, MA, BCBA, owner and executive director of Limitless Behavioral Services and Consulting, says kids with autism can greatly benefit from the type of social skills groups she runs out of her center in Hamilton.
“In general, social skills groups are a way for us to target the skills that are most difficult for the autistic population in a controlled way so they can be more successful in a natural environment,” she says. For kids who don’t naturally catch on to social cues or understand cooperative play, these skills are targeted and reinforced—with the goal being to eventually fade out the prompting.
BENEFITS FOR ALL AGES
These groups can start working on the most basic of social skills as young as preschool age, Zegas says. Even teens can benefit from the groups if they’ve had no previous experience with them.
“We create our groups based on the individual needs of the students in that group,” she says. “At Limitless, we offer different groups at different levels.” From there students can progress from basic skills like turn taking during a game of Zingo or Connect Four to learning to share their LEGOs. Even students who are not verbal can participate.
“We adapt all of our programming,” she says. Kids will start by learning that when a friend says “hi,” you say “hi” back.
“So much of social skills is about observing what’s happening,” she says. That could mean standing up when an instructor says “everybody stand up.”
“The next group level might include more intricate game play,” Zegas explains. That could mean playing a game where you have to look and see what your partner has and what you have. A student could then move on to more group activities, which could look like two or three students doing a big floor puzzle. “With this, we’re targeting working together,” she says. “During art projects our students work on things like asking a friend for a crayon.”
KEEPING KIDS MOTIVATED
While social play is fun for most kids, at first many need individual motivation systems in place to get them to buy in. That could translate to periodically earning free time or alone time during a group and progressing up to earning free time at the end of the group meeting. “Our students also have a rules card that is specific to them,” she says. This could have reminders such as: Did I ask my friends for things? Did I keep my hands to myself? Did I show good sportsmanship?
Most groups are around an hour-and-a-half long and they can vary in size from just two peers with two staff members to up to nine peers with two staff members, says Zegas. At Limitless, some students meet on weekdays or Saturday mornings. For kids age 10 and up, there are groups for just boys and just girls. Kids in these groups go on outings to places such as the bowling alley, or shopping at the mall after role playing customer and cashier at the center. “We also target self-care for our older students since their bodies are changing,” she says.
There are varying levels in those groups—some kids are verbal, others communicate differently, but everyone belongs.
THINGS TO LOOK FOR
Zegas says that parents should look for a program that is continuous and is able to grow with your child versus a six-to-eight week program where you may have to wait to reenroll. She says it’s also important that decisions for programming be based on data and that there should be specific goals for individuals. “I would be concerned if it’s ‘immerse yourself in the environment and hope for the best’ versus an individualized program,” she says. “Ask, ‘What are the plans for generalization of the skills that are learned?’”
PEER MODELS AND POSITIVE OUTCOMES
Social skills groups aren’t just for kids with autism—some include kids with ADHD or different communication issues, while others may have neurotypical peers included, often siblings of the children involved or children of the staff. Many parents report that social skills groups have made a big impact on their kids’ lives.
“We’ve had parents tell us that their child who was never able to go play on the swing set independently went up to someone and said, ‘Can I play with you?’ or ‘Chase me,’” she says.
It’s also important to recognize and respect how social a being your child is and how much they like a particular activity, Zegas says.
“You’re not going to learn good social skills if you’re being forced into an activity so it’s about bringing in a lot of choice,” she says. “We want them to enjoy it.”
Many kids on the spectrum do prefer to spend time on their own, and Zegas says that in some cases, a large social skills group might not be appropriate.
“In that case, we work on skills to function as a member of the community. When someone talks to you, you answer. You greet people and look in their direction at least. That you can ask people for things or for help if needed.”
Social skills groups are often covered by health insurance for children with autism, so check with your healthcare provider. You can search for a social skills group near you by using the resource guide at Autism Speaks.
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