Social Skills Holiday Programs 2010

Intensive School Holiday Programs for Primary School Children

Spectrum Speech Pathology Services offers intensive, School Holiday Social Skills Groups, for Primary School children during the Term 1, 2 and 3 school holidays. (Programs do not run during the Christmas holidays.) The children attend daily, 2 hour sessions, on 4 mornings or afternoons, in one of the holiday weeks. Our programs are offered over the 2 weeks of each school holiday period, one week being at Moonee Ponds and the other week at Ashwood. As a general rule children from Prep – grade 3 are placed in the morning group & grades 4-6 in the afternoon. However, some children in Grade 3 /4 might find themselves placed in either group depending on the make up of the actual applicants. Our groups are run from local church halls which are in close proximity to our two clinics at Ashwood and Moonee Ponds

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The group forum allows the children to experience creative approaches to the development of social skills in a fun and supportive environment. The groups may range from 5 -15 children. The larger groups are divided into smaller groups at various times throughout the program to allow for more focused learning and practise. We are fortunate to be able to offer quality programs for these numbers due to our high student to staff ratio.

When forming the groups, consideration is given to the age, ability levels and interests of the children.

Themes explored and developed in the social skills groups include:
• The appropriate use of non-verbal behaviours for communication (eg. how to use our eyes and whole body to communicate socially).
• Sharing news within the group, developing listening skills, asking appropriate questions and making relevant comments.
• Learning to play games fairly and co-operatively, winning and losing gracefully, and taking turns to go first or to be a leader.
• Learning the rules of conversations, and having opportunities to practise conversational skills in small groups with support.

Our therapists use a range of strategies and techniques which are supported by current research, to develop the skills of the children. Visual strategies such as schedules, social stories, social and behavioural scripts, cue cards, comic strip conversations, and videotaping,* among other things are employed where appropriate, to teach the social skills which are deemed to be priorities for the children.

Parents receive feedback at the end of each day. Strategies are discussed and where appropriate home practice activities are provided. In addition to this a report is forwarded to the families at the end of the program.

If you are interested in having your child participate in one of our School Holiday Social Skills Groups click here to download a form or down load a brochure

Term Holidays: Bookings for September 2010 Program now open

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