Social Skills Program

SOCIAL SKILLS / PRAGMATICS

The Social Skills/Pragmatics program focuses on equipping learners in grades K-3 with social language and requisite skills to improve participation during social interactions. The program is ideal for learners who struggle to make and maintain friendships, have difficulty participating in structured and unstructured play activities, struggle to initiate play with peers, and have trouble demonstrating reciprocal conversation skills.

During the 8-week program, learners receive direct instruction in the following areas (note- this is not an exhaustive list):

Initiating and responding to greetings
Completing conversational volleys
Asking and answering social questions
Joining play and continuing play schemes
Plus additional topics and skills to foster social relationships!

For many students, direct instruction is a vital component for learning a new skill. Direct instruction explicitly teaches how and when to perform a behavior. In addition to direct instruction, the group format embeds planned and natural opportunities for students to practice learned skills.

Co-facilitated by a Speech and Language Pathologist and Licensed Behavior Specialist, the Social Skills/Pragmatics program skillfully blends social skills (behavior) and pragmatics (social language) in a fun and engaging environment.

The program includes weekly community outings and/or in-house activities hosted by special guest visitors. Community trips allow for learners to practice newly acquired skills across multiple environments. While skills are initially taught within the program setting, outings provide naturally occurring opportunities to apply skills with similar-aged peers, such as engaging in conversations, reading social situations, advocating for self, and accepting changes in routines.

Dates:

Sessions are held on Monday and Tuesday from September 26 through November 15

*No session on October 31

Time:

4:30pm-6:00pm

Program Cost:

$1,350 per student (This includes a daily snack and any associated community outing fees)

Any K-3 student is considered eligible for the program. Admission does not require enrollment at Stratford Friends School.

EARLY LEARNERS PROGRAM

The Early Learners program is an 8-week behavior-informed program for students in grades K-3. Sessions provide students with the opportunity to remain engaged in a structured learning environment beyond the school day, giving students extended opportunity to strengthen and generalize learned skills across environments. The program is ideal for students who struggle to regulate behavioral responses to non-preferred activities/tasks, unexpected changes, being told no, or other frustrational events; those who have difficulty identifying and appropriately responding to different emotions in oneself and others; and students who demonstrate challenges with skills related to following rules and meeting expectations that are necessary for group activities.

The Early Learners program is co-led by a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and a PA Licensed Behavior Specialist. Our facilitators use principles of applied behavior analysis (ABA) to inform instruction in a highly structured and engaging environment. Throughout the program, learners are taught to use visual supports, including schedules and checklists; social stories are used to pre-teach expected behavior; high levels of reinforcement is delivered to strengthen learner behavior. The goal is to equip early learners with the skills and environmental support to improve performance in the learning environment.