Any real success with social skills groups?

[Anonymous]

I'm so interested in these perspectives from parents of older children. We did some therapies, but we had friends who did more (and less), and I feel like our kids are in about the same place now (age 9). It's hard to know what mattered. One of my issues with social skills groups is that all the children are socially atypical, and that practicing and interacting with them is not much like interacting with typical children in the world, who are so much more socially sophisticated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so interested in these perspectives from parents of older children. We did some therapies, but we had friends who did more (and less), and I feel like our kids are in about the same place now (age 9). It's hard to know what mattered. One of my issues with social skills groups is that all the children are socially atypical, and that practicing and interacting with them is not much like interacting with typical children in the world, who are so much more socially sophisticated.

My thoughts and experience exactly. We saw notable regression from a social skills group-DC started emulated a child who showed these behaviors and DC had shown the behavior prior to group. We dropped out. We have seen notable progress having DC do as much as possible with more socially skilled children-playdates, after school activities, camp, etc. I fear there will come a point where DC won't be able to get playdates with more socially skilled kids, but until then DC is learning a lot from them.

[Anonymous]

I meant DC had NOT shown the behavior prior to group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Social skills classes and pragmatic language help has worked wonders for my child with Asperger's. He was diagnosed when he was four and in prek so all of our services have been through school with his peers. He is mainstreamed at a language immersion school.

In preK, he had 4x wk social skills classes during nap times and in K, 1x wk. The wonderful thing about it is that social skills was integrated within the classroom. His SLP regularly observes DS in class and meets with his teachers on how to help him socially per his IEP. At this point, he appears NT, has friends and interacts with his peers. His pragmatic language is appropriate for his age. We are very pleased with the supports and services provided by his school.

I know this is very old, but my PreK kid was just diagnosed with ASD (well the evaluation doesn't outright have an official diagnosis, just evidence to support ASD). We are having an IEP meeting this week and I was wondering if social skills or ABA was something the school would provide or if I have to seek it out on my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Social skills classes and pragmatic language help has worked wonders for my child with Asperger's. He was diagnosed when he was four and in prek so all of our services have been through school with his peers. He is mainstreamed at a language immersion school.

In preK, he had 4x wk social skills classes during nap times and in K, 1x wk. The wonderful thing about it is that social skills was integrated within the classroom. His SLP regularly observes DS in class and meets with his teachers on how to help him socially per his IEP. At this point, he appears NT, has friends and interacts with his peers. His pragmatic language is appropriate for his age. We are very pleased with the supports and services provided by his school.

I know this is very old, but my PreK kid was just diagnosed with ASD (well the evaluation doesn't outright have an official diagnosis, just evidence to support ASD). We are having an IEP meeting this week and I was wondering if social skills or ABA was something the school would provide or if I have to seek it out on my own.

I think you are going to get better advice if you start a new thread asking what services people have gotten in pre-K. My kid wasn’t diagnosed until much later, so I can’t really help, but I know the diagnosis is definitely overwhelming. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I think one possibility may be that the quality of providers varies A LOT. Some therapists/therapies just aren't worth their salt.

[Anonymous]

Apologies ahead of time, I didn't read all the responses. Where do you find such group? I would love my child to try. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

OP, what you're describing sounds pretty successful to me. A lot of people find socializing easier in quieter places and smaller groups. If she can make friends in settings that work for her, she can make friends. She's not in a world where her only possibility of peer interaction is at a frat party.

Does she have trouble following conversations in large groups or noisy areas? I have a certain amount of auditory processing trouble that means large groups at loud restaurants are a special kind of hell. It's not a hearing disability (although I am getting deafer in my old age, which doesn't help.)