Social Group on an outing at Venice Beach
Our social thinking coaches work with students on concepts such as “expected and unexpected” behavior in a group, whole body listening, thinking with our eyes, building social memories, and perspective taking – helping students develop their ability to think socially. We use teachable moments during the course of a session to spotlight these and other fundamental social cognitive concepts, with less emphasis on specific social skills like eye contact or giving compliments.
Groups begin with movement and sensory organization component and then transition to an organized/structured group activity and then end with a parent information session. The movement and sensory activities at the beginning help students organize their behavior, attend appropriately, and focus on social learning. Group activities are age-appropriate, fun, and interactive, providing a highly motivating backdrop for social development, and giving the students opportunities to expand their social play repertoire. The parent information sessions give parents the tools to help their children think socially across a variety of settings and over time.
Students are carefully and thoughtfully matched with peers who will be working at a similar overall social level, but with enough differences among group members to provide a variety of strengths. Leaps…n…Boundz social thinking groups are vendored with Westside Regional Center, and reciprocal vendorization is possible with a number of other local Regional Centers.
