On my last day at the clinic, I was saying goodbye to one of my favorite patients (I know I'm probably not supposed to say that, shhh) and his mother asked me for recommendations to work on pragmatics at home - he is a teenager with autism, and struggles with social language. He has come SO far in the last 2 years, but still has difficulties with skills like understanding emotion, tone of voice, solving social problems, and carrying a conversation. His mom was toying with the idea of starting a teen social group outside the clinic, and we talked about creating a group on meetup.com - but then she said "I don't know what else to do besides board games and that kind of thing." Well, I am choc full of ideas so here we go! Just a note: this group structure would also apply to adults who need to practice social skills or general verbal communication - it may easily be adapted to stroke or traumatic brain injury populations.
Materials
Let's start with more formal materials. Linguisystems is a big therapy materials company with lots of great products - you can peruse some of these on their site under "social skills", but I will just take a minute to highlight one of my favorite (and parent-friendly) books: Spotlight on Social Skills. It is actually a 6-book series, each on a different topic and containing worksheets and activities for that topic (Conversations, Getting Along, Emotions, Interpersonal Negotiation, Social Inferences, Nonverbal Language). Depending on your needs you can buy the books individually, and use them as a lesson plan guide for your own social groups.
Less formal materials I like to use include Table Topics cards, which are a collection of questions and conversation starters and come in a variety of topics/ages. There are tons of categories from silly to serious, but I like the basic sets: Original (for adults), Teen, and Kids to Go. They are a great way to practice conversation skills (asking questions, commenting, continuing the topic), nonverbal language (facing your listener, using eye contact), tone of voice (excited vs serious), and problem solving (expressing opinions appropriately, disagreeing). As a side note, they are also perfect for adult patients with Parkinson's who need to practice using an appropriate voice volume in conversation, or an aphasic patient who need to practice communicating. Not to mention just for fun around the dinner table!
http://www.tabletopics.com/
**Update: Yes, there is an app for that! I recently found the app "What If?" (FREE) which functions the same as Table Topics cards, with interesting all-ages conversation starters - in the super-convenient packaging of an iPad.
**Update: Yes, there is an app for that! I recently found the app "What If?" (FREE) which functions the same as Table Topics cards, with interesting all-ages conversation starters - in the super-convenient packaging of an iPad.
Group Structure
Now that we have a few materials to get us going, let's talk about the structure of a social group. Ideally, the group would consist of 2-5 people, some with pragmatics skills difficulties and some with socially typical "helpers" to act as models and facilitate the group. It's best to match by age, and sometimes by gender depending on the preferences of those involved. I like to start with age-appropriate greetings ("hey", "what's up") and then a "get to know you" conversation at the beginning of every session - this is where the Table Topics cards come in handy. Everyone can alternate turns asking a question and answering, but ideally this is not too formal - the idea is to keep it natural, and not alternating too rigidly lends opportunities to work on interrupting and waiting skills! The helpers should react naturally and use age-appropriate language e.g. "Hang on man, I'm not done." These conversations should not feel like a classroom.
The next portion of the group, however, is a more formal lesson on specific skills or situations - for these I recommend parents follow a specific program e.g. the Linguisystems books above. Or, they could occur from a situation that has come up and involve a group brainstorming session; if an argument occurred during the conversational portion, use a whiteboard to list "ok" and "not-ok" things to say when expressing yourself, or make a bubble diagram of other ways the situation could be handled.
If there is still time, I like to end my groups with another less-structured activity - yes, this is where the board games come in! Or at home you can encourage a game of basketball, building something together, or another activity of interest to the group. Some weeks could even be "field trip" outings to a local restaurant, pool hall, or movie theater (followed by discussion of the game, food or film). These activities lend lots of opportunities to use pragmatic language in a natural setting, which is the key to a successful social group.
If you are looking for even MORE inspirational topics, check out Jill Kuzma's blog which is all about social skills - it is very parent-friendly and has tons of info: http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com/welcome-to-jills-social-thinking-blog/
And keep checking back here - my next blog will feature iPad apps for pragmatics skills!
No comments:
Post a Comment