Individual
Group
Individual/Family Counseling

Individual
Individual social skills training may be more effective initially than group training to work on basic attending skills. Some students will need to learn from an adult how to maintain attention before they can apply that to a peer. We may also work individually with a child to address certain disruptive behavior problems that we would not want to discuss with the student in front of his or her peers.

Group
Group social skills training allows students to learn skills and practice them in an interactive format with others. Moreover, a goal of group training is to make friends with the other members. We try to match students by cognitive and language ability, social interest, age, and geographic compatibility in order to maximize the potential for friendship.

Groups meet once a week for one hour. Most of the groups are scheduled in the afternoon and early evening hours. Groups run in 12 week cycles. If you plan to join a group, then we ask that you attend at least 12 sessions, since we are holding this spot for you. If you miss more than two sessions in a 12 week cycle we ask that you pay for the missed session. Many students continue for a number of cycles with the opportunity to add new members or end therapy after each 12 week cycle. For children under 9 years old, we typically ask that parents participate in the group with the youngster for the first 12 weeks to facilitate the acquisition and generalization of skills. Groups typically have a structured skill lesson and a less structured conversation and/or play time to practice the skills learned during skill lessons.

Individual/Family Counseling
Family counseling or parent training is often indicated when students are having behavioral difficulties. We offer parent training to help parents effectively manage disruptive behaviors and teach their children better ways to get what they need. Individual counseling is helpful when students have suffered a trauma (e.g. loss of a family member, parental divorce, constant harassment from peers) or is having difficulty coming to terms with their disability. When students first become aware of their differences, they often develop unrealistic, overly negative perceptions of themselves. Individual sessions can help students develop more realistic and positive perceptions of themselves.