Social Skills Groups

Speech Connections, Bedford is currently running six-week social skills groups for school-aged children with Asperger's Syndrome, high-functioning autism and pragmatic language impairment. These groups are taught by Heather A. Adams.

Social skill deficits often make it difficult for a student to develop and maintain fulfilling personal relationships with their peers. Social skills may consist of direct verbal communication (what people say to relate to one another) and nonverbal communication (what we say with our bodies without using our words). Typical social skill deficits include initiating interactions, reciprocity, sharing enjoyment, maintaining eye contact, and inferring the interests of others. For older students, maintaining friendships and dealing with rejection are further areas of need.

At Speech Connections, Bedford, social skills training is provided in a fun, naturalistic environment. Students learn by interacting with each other given specific skill sets or strategies to focus on. The goal is to not only improve each student's pragmatic language abilities but also to foster friendships between students within the group.

Another key component to the group's success is the inclusion of a "parent night". This gives parents an opportunity to talk directly with Heather Adams. The parents learn what their children have been working on and are given strategies for carryover of skills at home. It also gives parents an opportunity to meet other parents within the group and provide support.

The groups run continually with a minimum of 4 students and a maximum of 8 students. If you are interested in social skills group programming for your child, please call (603) 623-5237 for current rates and information.