About Our Social Skills Groups
Advances Learning Center offers social skills groups Monday through Saturday. Children are grouped into small "clubs" which meet for two hours every week for 2 16-week sessions during the school year and an 8-week summer session. Groups include 2 to 5 students and 2 instructors. Our small group size ensures plentyof individual attention and helps facilitate the formation of close friendships.
Our Instructors
Advances group leaders are dedicated and creative teachers who have extensive experience with children with special needs and have solid backgrounds in Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA). Each group has at least one assistant, usually a graduate or undergraduate student in an educational or developmental field of study. Additionally, one-to-one assistance may be provided for an extra fee if a student is not ready for a 1:2 ratio. Group leaders have the supervision and support of a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, who oversees teaching procedures and student progress.
Eligible Students
Advances Learning Center has groups for children between the ages of 3 and 17 who would benefit from social instruction. Not all of our students have a diagnosis, but among those who do are children with Non-verbal Learning Disorder, Aspergers, High-Functioning Autism, learning disabilities or communication disorders.
Placement
At the intake appointment, each child is assessed and appropriate objectives are determined and prioritized. Children are matched with peers who share similar objectives and have compatible skill levels. Each group works on 5-8 objectives that focus on the particular areas of need of those students.
Teaching
Social instruction at Advances is supportive, systematic, and data-driven. Our group leaders use only instructional methods shown to be effective by research. Whenever appropriate, instruction takes place within games and activities that mimic situations children will encounter in other environments (school, play-dates, birthday parties). The Advances Comprehensive Social Skills Curriculum covers a wide range of skills, from the primary (interacting with toys appropriately, turn-taking) to the complex (perspective-taking, inferencing).
Parent Communication
Parents are encouraged to be closely involved in their child’s program at Advances and are given weekly curriculum reports. These weekly reports also include a suggestion for an activity parents can do at home to encourage generalization of skills. At the end of the session each week, the group leader meets briefly with each parent for questions and updates. Additionally, parents may observe their child’s group or have another member of their educational team observe (requests must be made in advance). For less-intrusive observation, parents may request that a video of their child’s group be made for their (on-site) viewing.
Progress
Data are taken on every objective, for every child, during every session. Data are graphed and analyzed to ensure that progress is being made. When the data show a lack of progress, teaching methods are changed immediately. Progress reports are sent to parents at the end of each 16-week session, but additional progress reports (including a report after the summer session) may be requested at other times.