are social skills playgroups

[Anonymous]

are social skills playgroups/groups just for preschool age children with ASD or can they be beneficial to a variety of children, especially those who are speech delayed? Also has anyone had experience with them and found them useful? Thanks

[Anonymous]

I have a Kindergartener who is in a social skills group. It's not just or not necessarily for children with speech delays. My DC doesn't have a speech delay but does have speech pragmatics issues. We find it very beneficial.

[Anonymous]

anyone have a recommendation for a good social skills group in the No Va area preferably or in the DC metro area?

[Anonymous]

Social skills group can benefit all kids. Our DS went to one at Parenting Playgroups

http://www.parentingplaygroups.com/socialskills.htm

It was facilitated very nicely and more affordable than many other social skills groups we looked at. Also, Parenting Playgroups was founded by Rene Hackney who does Positive Discipline classes. Those classes are amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:anyone have a recommendation for a good social skills group in the No Va area preferably or in the DC metro area?

Try JSSA (Jewish Social Service Agency) in Fairfax, www.jssa.org. They provide social skills groups for a variety of ages and have a long reputation as a provider of these services.

[Anonymous]

I disagree with the above posters. All the social skills groups seem to cater to the ASD children more. THey are not natural. There is far too much intervention from the facilitators. To teach kids how to greet people appropriately they'll say "Step 1 - make eye contact," "Step 2 - smile, " "Step 3 - say 'hi' or 'hello' "
This is fine for ASD children but for children with other issues who can learn social skills by observation and simply being around other kids - such things do not need to be taught through rote memorization. Non ASD children can learn by observation most of the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the above posters. All the social skills groups seem to cater to the ASD children more. THey are not natural. There is far too much intervention from the facilitators. To teach kids how to greet people appropriately they'll say "Step 1 - make eye contact," "Step 2 - smile, " "Step 3 - say 'hi' or 'hello' "
This is fine for ASD children but for children with other issues who can learn social skills by observation and simply being around other kids - such things do not need to be taught through rote memorization. Non ASD children can learn by observation most of the time.

You've been to "all the social skills groups" in the area? That's amazing! I'm curious to know the basis for your claim that non ASD children can learn the social skills they need from observation - or is that just your opinion?

I'm the PP that recommended the social skills group from Parenting Playgroups. My DS is nowhere near ASD and neither were most of the kids with him. We got to be very friendly with 2 other kids from the group and neither of them were ASD either. They were just kids who benefited from having facilitated interactions. It was a lot of fun for them and was facilitated by very capable FCPS school pyschologists/social workers. We had homework from the group but it was very easy and didn't require memorization at all.

All kids need to learn to greet people courteously and the steps you outline above are part of that. If kids, and by extension adults, could learn all the social skills they needed by observation and being around other people, there wouldn't be any etiquette or cotillion classes. In fact, a lot of DCUMs would benefit from a social skills class. Just look to some of the flaming, disparaging posts as examples.

[Anonymous]

17:29's assertion is ridiculous! The key to finding a good social skills group is to find a group with kids similar to your own. If your child is not on the spectrum, be sure it contains children who are not on the spectrum. If you have a girl, it may be helpful to have other girls, etc. We have been doing these groups for 2 years now with my child who has SPD and it has done wonders for my child's social interactions and self confidence. The attitude that a non-ASD child with a social skill deficit will simply catch up is preposterous and can be detrimental to a child's overall development even if they would improve with time. Children start being judgmental at a certain point and if other children do not want to play with them because their social skills are delayed, a child will start to feel bad about themselves and that can lead to a lot of other issues. Obviously it depends on the child as to whether a social skills group is necessary but I firmly believe that all children would benefit from such a group and clearly those who need improvement with their social skills would benefit from a group with appropriate peers.

[Anonymous]

Parenting playgroup sounds interesting, but they only start at 4. Any recommendations for a group like this for slightly younger children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the above posters. All the social skills groups seem to cater to the ASD children more. THey are not natural. There is far too much intervention from the facilitators. To teach kids how to greet people appropriately they'll say "Step 1 - make eye contact," "Step 2 - smile, " "Step 3 - say 'hi' or 'hello' "
This is fine for ASD children but for children with other issues who can learn social skills by observation and simply being around other kids - such things do not need to be taught through rote memorization. Non ASD children can learn by observation most of the time.

It's attitudes like this that keep prevent kids from partaking in services or activities that would greatly benefit them. Probably the biggest myth in the "normal" world is that it's only kids with obvious challenges that need or benefit from services. People will pay for a personal trainer or coach to help them refine techniques and skills, what makes anyone think a lot of kids wouldn't benefit from learning to interact with peers better? I don't know what groups this poster has seen but as a PP said, the important thing is to find one with the right mix of kids. Even having ASD kids in the group is beneficial. Don't we learn best when we teach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the above posters. All the social skills groups seem to cater to the ASD children more. THey are not natural. There is far too much intervention from the facilitators. To teach kids how to greet people appropriately they'll say "Step 1 - make eye contact," "Step 2 - smile, " "Step 3 - say 'hi' or 'hello' "
This is fine for ASD children but for children with other issues who can learn social skills by observation and simply being around other kids - such things do not need to be taught through rote memorization. Non ASD children can learn by observation most of the time.

I'm curious to know where you got your MSLP? You sound dangerously ill-informed. I hope have no influence over any actual children, it would be so unfortunately for them...

OP, Building Blocks is amazing. It's Kristen Metzger's practice. They work with children who have all kinds of challenges - not just ASD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the above posters. All the social skills groups seem to cater to the ASD children more. THey are not natural. There is far too much intervention from the facilitators. To teach kids how to greet people appropriately they'll say "Step 1 - make eye contact," "Step 2 - smile, " "Step 3 - say 'hi' or 'hello' "
This is fine for ASD children but for children with other issues who can learn social skills by observation and simply being around other kids - such things do not need to be taught through rote memorization. Non ASD children can learn by observation most of the time.

I'm curious to know where you got your MSLP? You sound dangerously ill-informed. I hope have no influence over any actual children, it would be so unfortunately for them...

OP, Building Blocks is amazing. It's Kristen Metzger's practice. They work with children who have all kinds of challenges - not just ASD.

I'm the PP who wrote that. Let's see...My post has been referred to as "ridiculous, " I'm also "dangerously ill-informed," that they hope I "have no influence over actual children because it would be unfortunate for them," and the first responder felt compelled to resort to sarcasm to express objection to my post. Who needs the social skills group here, me or the posters who wrote all this about me? Why look for DCUM posters who like to flame others elsewhere? They are right here in this special needs forum. They are the parents of the special needs kids who need extra help with social skills.

You know, we can all go to the sarcasm corner and we can all insult one another's posts. It's easy for me too. But to avoid it and to save such a response for only the most heinous of behavior is the difference between having social skills and not. Isn't that what we want to teach our children?

So to answer your questions - YES, I have attended Parenting Playgroups. Yes, DC attended the social skills groups there. Yes, I'm aware they have psychologists facilitating the groups. Yes, I'm aware that many of the kids there are not on the spectrum. Yes, I have observed/attended many social skills groups, including the ones at a couple of psychologists office here in NoVA and also DIR in Bethesda. Have I attended "ALL"? No, obviously not. But I don't need to attend ALL in order to have a valid opinion based on sound judgment and much experience. Obviously none of you have attended ALL social skills groups but that hasn't stopped you from posting your opinions right?

I have also read a number of books on autism / developmental issues/ regulatory issues such as The Irreducible Needs of Children, The Challenging Child, Overcoming ADHD, Engaging Autism, The Child with Special Needs by Greenspan, Increasing Your Child's Social IQ by Cathi Cohen, The Out of Sync Child, Raising a Sensory Smart Kid, and books on RDI (relationship developmental intervention). So if you must, express your objection to my opinion but you are wrong to say I'm ill-informed. Natural playgroups that are watched over discreetly by YOU, the parents, is best and far superior to structured, facilitated, monitored social skills groups.

Why do I think social skills groups are inappropriate for non spectrum kids? Let me clarify before you parents crucify me further. Kids who are mildly affected do better in more natural playgroup settings. Kids who are mildly affected do not do well in strongly supervised facilitated social skills groups that rely heavily on rote memorization. DC is mildly affected with a regulatory disorder. I noticed that the kids in Parenting Playgroups were more than mildly affected. When one six year old lost a game, along with 3 other children who also lost the game, he began bawling and was not easy to calm down. When one child greeted DC, he threw himself on him to hug him. DC is not friends with the child at all. The class had just started a couple weeks prior. Children with more serious social skills issues do need more intervention and facilitation, but natural playgroups are still better than the heavily monitored and rote memorization aspect of social skills playgroups. I must say though that DIR's social skills group, while heavily monitored, does not involve rote memorization as far as I saw.

We went to see Dr. Stanley Greenspan for our dx. He heavily advocates integrating mildly affected children into mainstream playgroups because it provides them with the best environment for learning social skills. So we do playgroups and play dates from school and from the neighborhood. It works fine for DC and he learns well. I am curious to know - why don't you all do at home playdates and playgroups from school?

One poster said that all children need to learn social etiquette. Social etiquette is different than social skills. Social etiquette is using the fork the right way. Social etiquette is wiping your mouth with your napkin instead of your sleeve when you're done eating. It's asking before you leave the table. That's not what social skills groups try to teach. Social skills groups teach children to respect personal space, teach kids to make eye contact, to allow another person to win sometimes, and there is a fair amount of memorization. Memorization is not required for mildly affected kids. Things learned through memorization do not come across naturally. They come across as memorized. Things learned through memorization can not be generally or specifically applied properly. Non ASD kids can indeed learn things WITHOUT the memorization and if they learn things more naturally they learn it better. That's just a fact.

[Anonymous]

My non-ASD child is in a social skills group and there's no rote memorization going on. And in answer to your question "why don't you all do at home playdates..." We do. We do both. We think it's worth it.

[Anonymous]

Do you all think this is an issue with semantics? I think the term "social skills group" is used very broadly now. My slightly older child participates in a "social skills group" that aims more at kids with ADHD. It is a combo of group therapy, facilitated play and discussion. The weekly topics include things like giving and receiving compliments, handling anger, appropriate behavior, being a good friend. There may be some rote memorization but there is also plenty of opportunity for group play and what better place to do this than with other kids that are likely to push DCs buttons (lots of practical application of skills) with a psychologist present. We also have play-dates at home, have and go to birthday parties etc. but DC has gotten a lot out of it the group.

[Anonymous]

I think that PP nails it in that it's important to have appropriate "peers", in PP's case, other kids with ADHD. You want some kids at their level and some kids above to pull things up. You also want to do lots of playdates to "practice" and to build relationships with schoolmates one on one where your child might be more successful. I think it's important to define what your child needs to work on and where they are, and to observe before signing up.