Social Skills Group (ADHD) - how long did you stay?

[Anonymous]

We put DS in a social skills group at the beginning of the year. It is a bit far for us, so it is taking a toll on both him and us spending the time to drive there. The group has been beneficial, but I am thinking about stopping, or at least, taking a break for the summer. How long have others had their child in a social skills group? When is it time to stop?

[Anonymous]

It really depends on the kid. I know some that did one 10 week session and that was it and all they needed. OTOH, my DC with ASD was in a weekly group that met from mid 4th grade to the beginning of 12th. If he is picking up things quickly and just needs to be taught a few rules that he can take to other groups where he is welcomed and included- then he probably only needs it for short period of time. If he regresses, then you do a tune up series.

[Anonymous]

We also started at the beginning of the year. I really think social skills building is long term.

We're planning to go for a long time, with some short breaks. Summer (as long as they have play dates or camps) may be the best time to go so that they have built some skills and prevent slide in this area before they return to school.

I know OP- it's expensive, time consuming, and hard to see immediate benefit. We do fewer extracurriculars in order to accommodate therapies. I think the benefit is glacial, but it usually happens.

[Anonymous]

We didn't find social groups to be worth our time and $$. It's like taking a piano lesson once a week but you don't practice playing piano throughout the week. Maybe other people can convince me otherwise.
What we found useful was to get to know the parents who have kids at the same school, class, neighborhood and schedule playdates with one kid at a time.

[Anonymous]

It depends solely on the kids in the group and who is conducting it. We were led by a psychologist to enroll our DC in one (connected with her practice - she was getting $$ kickbacks). It quickly became apparent that DC was the healthiest in the group and had been added on to collect a fee. When one of the girls started talking about suicide attempts and DC who had never heard of the concept came home screaming out it (she was very young), that was when I pulled the plug and the therapist as well. Like 11:57 above we found it too expensive and time-consuming. DC was also in a traditional school that required a lot of homework. DW and I were spending all our time driving kids to appointments. We pulled the plug and later found out kids were fine. No diagnoses today. We found socializaiton in scouting and church youth groups to be much more beneficial and healthy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We didn't find social groups to be worth our time and $$. It's like taking a piano lesson once a week but you don't practice playing piano throughout the week. Maybe other people can convince me otherwise.
What we found useful was to get to know the parents who have kids at the same school, class, neighborhood and schedule playdates with one kid at a time.

That only works if other kids are willing to play with yours and only to about 1st or 2nd grade.

[Anonymous]

OP- I'm the pp who mentioned that I thought social skills groups are more of a long term proposition. As for whether they are useful, I agree with posters who said it depends on your kid.

My child has mild/moderate ADHD, very little social awareness/ intuition, and an exceptionally high IQ. He's not deliberately oppositional (notice I use the word deliberate outside of normal bounds, and is highly social-- wants friends and approval.

Social skills therapy is proving to be effective- we're combining it with behavioral therapy over the summer to work on better impulse control.

Honestly, I have seen kids more impaired by their ADHD and yet, more socially savvy than my DS. I think my DS has issues with social pragmatics that are independent of his ADHD which makes this kind if therapy especially helpful.

[Anonymous]

Any recommendations for social skills groups that folks have found effective?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any recommendations for social skills groups that folks have found effective?

Where's do you live?

[Anonymous]

What happens in a social skills group? I've read about them before but I am having trouble picturing what goes on. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Depends what age and what curriculum they use. We're in one for very high functioning kids in 1st grade and they use "Social Thinking." They play games and learn how to take turns, read each other's body language and how to talk about their emotions and problem solve in a constructive way.

During the first few months we didn't really see any changes and almost gave up but now that it's been about 9 months we are finding that our DC uses a lot of the language from the class and is really great about doing things like having a phone conversation in a reciprocal and appropriate way.

I don't know what the diagnoses of the kids in the class are but for four of the five I would have had no clue they had any diagnosis at all. They are perfectly behaved in the waiting room and "look" NT.

We may take a break over the summer as well.

[Anonymous]

Depends how badly he needs it, and if you see a Transference of skills from that group to his every day life.

I put my 8 year old DS in Alvord and Baker's resilience social skills group program one summer... and that was it. While the program was good, the price and distance made it unappealing during the year, and his public school ran a social skills group anyway (not as good, but better than nothing). I didn't see a strong transference social skills either. However now at 10, his social skills have improved: age, maturity, and maybe the social skills group? Who knows.

It's hard to gauge the efficacy of a method when its benefits can sometimes be visible only years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Depends how badly he needs it, and if you see a Transference of skills from that group to his every day life.

I put my 8 year old DS in Alvord and Baker's resilience social skills group program one summer... and that was it. While the program was good, the price and distance made it unappealing during the year, and his public school ran a social skills group anyway (not as good, but better than nothing). I didn't see a strong transference social skills either. However now at 10, his social skills have improved: age, maturity, and maybe the social skills group? Who knows.

It's hard to gauge the efficacy of a method when its benefits can sometimes be visible only years later.

Do you think it's because he's older and more mature now? (And not the social skills group)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recommendations for social skills groups that folks have found effective?

Where's do you live?

NoVa

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any recommendations for social skills groups that folks have found effective?

Where's do you live?

NoVa

MY DC had a great experience with his social skills group at Improving Outcomes in Falls Church. I also learned quite a bit from the months parent groups.