Learning Social Skills—and Having Fun!

by Pamela Ely Martins, M.S. CCC-SLP

“Bubble thoughts,” “hi/lo,” “topic tower,” and “topic toad”—these are just a few of the terms you are sure to hear if you spend an hour eavesdropping on one of my social skills group sessions. I work with students who have struggled with acquiring the skills of social competency, including individuals with Asperger’s Syndrome. These students may have difficulties functioning in the areas of:

  • Social skills and pragmatic language development.
  • Visual/spatial processing and sensory-motor integration.
  • Information processing and organizational skills.

When I first meet them, my students may show “penalizing behaviors,” (behaviors that may cause people to judge them unfavorably). They may have:

  • Difficulty taking on the perspective of another person (poorly developed Theory of Mind).
  • A tendency to avoid making eye contact.
  • Poor initiation skills (inability to start a conversation).
  • Difficulty “reading” or interpreting non-verbal cues such as facial expression, humor, and sarcasm.

Usually, social language deficits are especially evident when a child is in a group of peers. These children may use a communicative style which makes them appears to be self-centered, cold, uninterested, or “robot-like.” This tends to isolate them from their peers. The goal of my specialized language group is for the student to use language appropriately and to develop more socially acceptable behavior. Students learn specific foundation skill sets for enhanced interpersonal relations, working together in a homogeneous peer group of children who are working on acquiring the same skills.

Our work together focuses on the explicit teaching of tools and techniques for improving the students’ social communication with peers and adults, as well as strategies for adapting to more complex life and social situations. For each student, I draw up an overall therapy plan that takes into consideration several areas of functional weakness, so there is a whole-person approach to skill building. I place each student in a group of individuals with similar needs. Each group has a maximum of four students, and meets once a week for an hour. Group activities target one or many skill sets. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses; I encourage my clients to acknowledge their strengths, and utilize them to compensate for their weaknesses.

Sometimes parents arrive at my door half an hour early, saying that the child insisted on being on time because “my friends will be counting on me,” or because the child can’t wait to share a recent “hi” or “low” in his or her life.

Students are excited about coming to group for many reasons. We meet in a space that feels more like a rec room than a treatment room. I also utilize technology as a means of “hooking” the participants: frequent e-mail to home, a digital camera, and video taping. I encourage practical environmental experiences which are salient to the students’ lives.

“Hi/Lo” is an ice breaker. Here’s how it works. I encourage the group members to offer statements about the best things that have occurred in their lives since last we met, and the most negative. (As the group leader, I share, too.) Memorable “highs” include winning a sailing regatta, being picked to be in the school play, and having alone time with mom or dad; “lows” were not getting to have a play date with a special friend, having too much homework, and having no one to sit with at lunch in the cafeteria. The kids look forward to this sharing. Hi/Lo is a wonderful way for students to practice turn-taking, staying on topic, and using eye contact skills in conversation. Hi/Lo also lets me know how my students are feeling, and what’s on their minds. I use that information to structure the group time to be most pertinent to the students’ needs of on that day.

Finally, I keep the tone of our work together fun. The kids learn the lingo and the process quickly. They become invested in the group and feel a sense of belonging which keeps them coming back. At our last summer session, one 2nd grade boy said, as he was bounding up the stairs to his mom, "Thanks Pamela, you ran a really great group today, I’m glad I came!”

Working with the whole family, and/or supporting families through education and consultation, has become the center of my practice. Once a month, a graduate student facilitates the children’s activity while I meet with their parents as a group for about 20minutes. I use this opportunity to tell parents the types of activities and skills their children are engaged in developing. Parents can gather information that may help them help their children at home or school. Because of the rapport that is built between me and the family, parents often call me a day or two prior to group, offering insightful anecdotes about their child's week. The parents’ reports help me to plan the sessions around issues that are current and salient to the child's social development.

Students demonstrate significant gains over time, out-performing those who receive speech and language therapy in more conventional settings.

To find out about available groups, you may contact Pamela Martins at (617)795-1755.

Editor’s note: Other groups are listed at www.aane.org. Some students with AS attend pragmatic social language groups at school, as part of an Individualized Education Plan. School speech therapists, social workers, etc. can attend AANE trainings with Elsa Abele to learn how to run groups.

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