Social skills groups and how to think on your feet.
As mentioned earlier I run several social skills groups at the outpatient gym I work at. Let me tell you, the most fun ever! I supervise OT and COTA students who often ask me how I come up with the ideas for my group “out of thin air”. When I first started I would come up with a written out plan for each activity that I wanted to work on, similar to what you would do in OT school. Then I ran about 2 groups and threw that whole idea out the window! I would have planned to play guess who and a new kid who was non verbal would show up. Simon says - guess what, you have a runner. Needless to say, the way I plan groups now looks way different and it’s called OVER PLAN.
When thinking about my groups I usually have a running list on my phone of what I want to do. I start and end each group relatively similar. The middle part is what I want to talk about today. So after our group intro (a whole other post) I usually give the kids a break (a whole other post!). This gives me time to set up the first activity I have planned. I usually try to have 3 or 4 ideas for a group and when I see who is there today I can decide what order I want to put them in. If my kids show up running crazy I know I can’t start with a seated activity. If attendance is low or the kids seem to remain engaged after group intro I can get the seated work out of the way in the beginning. It’s important to know your kiddos and sense what’s best for them in terms of sensory needs, attention spans and overall ability to participate in the session on any particular day.
The rest of the group goes like that, activity, break, activity, break until it’s time for the toe pie (how I end each session). If I only think we will be able to complete 1 or 2 activities from my ideas on my phone I can do that! If I want to go for all of them I can do that too.
For the more structured learner, here is an example of what I mean:
Group Intro 5 min.
Break 2 min.
Gross motor game 8 min. (movement!)
Break 2 min.
Social thinking game 4 min. (Sitting, waiting your turn to talk)
Break 1 min.
Problem Solving scenario 3 min. (higher level activity that I want to introduce but not hammer home)
Toe Pie and shoes 5 min.
A note on minutes
If you are adding the minutes up, my groups are 30 minutes long. I have run longer and it is TOO LONG! A 30 minute group is a really nice length of time that keeps the kids engaged and you accomplishing your goals for the group. And if you are sitting there thinking “Do you really plan things for less than a minute?!” The answer is yes!! A minute is really a long time if you set a timer, and especially so for a child with deficits in attention and EXTRA especially for a child with attention deficits in a group setting! You have 30 one minute increments, make each one count!
So that’s an intro to my social skills groups! I hope to dive into this topic further in coming posts!
