Groups

 

Alert Groups
The Therapy Place is offering the ALERT Program for
self-regulation in a peer group setting. The program “How
Does Your Engine Run” will be used under the guidance and
supervision of an occupational therapist to assist children
ages 8-12 to develop awareness of arousal levels and offer
strategies for self regulation. By participating in the
ALERT Program in a group setting, the children will enhance
their self-esteem, coping abilities and self knowledge to
regulate their arousal states with minimal adult
interventions.

Description of group:
Groups will consist of 4-6 children of similar ages and
levels of function. (This program is most appropriate for
those children who demonstrate average or above average
cognitive skills.)The ALERT group will include learning
opportunities in both structured and play situations.
Emphasis will be on development of regulation strategies,
social behavior, and self awareness.

Click here for current group schedule.
Contact us

Comic Strip Conversation
This small-group therapeutic experience is limited to four
children, ages 7 to 12, who have been diagnosed with Asperger’s
syndrome, a nonverbal learning disorder, or autism. Comic
Strip Conversation incorporates simple drawings that serve
to illustrate ongoing communication. This group uses a basic
set of symbols to illustrate social skills that are difficult
for children with autism to understand. Conversations are
used to provide insights into a child’s perspective of a situation
and may also be used to visually work through a problem and
identify solutions. Parent participation and home follow-through
plays a critical role in this group.
Click here for current group schedule.

The Core Group
Does your child …..

• slouch in their chair?
• have difficulty sitting still?
• have poor attention?
• have decreased strength/low tone?
• poor self-regulation?
• poor bilateral motor control?

…then the Core Group is perfect for your child!

The Core is the deep postural muscles surrounding the trunk that enable us to maintain balance when moving throughout the environment. It helps keep us centered and focused.

The Core Group is a fun, interactive activity set to music, where your child participates in various exercises and games with peers that are intended to strengthen the core. The purpose of this group is to teach you and your child fun activities to do within your home.

Some benefits to expect from improving core strength include:

• improving posture
• improving overall attention
• improving strength
• improving self-regulation, self-confidence, and self-esteem

This group will consist of an occupational therapist with 4-6 children ages 6 and up. The group will be 1 hour in length with a parent instruction portion including description of home activities to practice each week.

Click here for current
group schedule.

Functional
Skills Group
Many types of skills are required today, not only to
survive, but also to experience
independence and success in everyday living. The purpose of
the Functional Skills Group is to develop basic survival
skills, personal and community independence, as well as
promote
getting along with others.
Click here for current group schedule.

The group will include typical situations that your child
could encounter in the home or in the community. These
lessons will provide your child an opportunity to learn,
practice and apply life skills in a controlled situation. We
will then give each child the opportunity to practice the
skill in real-life situations in the community.

Activities may include:

• Planning/Preparing a meal, including a trip to the grocery store
• Using public transportation
• Planning a trip to the mall to practice money skills
• Planning and participating in a leisure activity (i.e. movie or bowling)
• Daily living skills, including laundry and cleaning.

The group is limited to 4 children and is appropriate for
ages 9-14. Parent involvement and home practice is necessary
for skill building. Parents will be expected to attend the
pre and post meetings that will provide an overview of the
group and the opportunity to discuss objectives, goals and
progress of their child.

To ensure consistency and successive growth experiences,
attendance is critical to the success of the Functional
Skills Program.
Click here for current group schedule.

Contact us.

Handwriting
Getting it Write is designed to help children whose mild neurological
challenges result in difficulty with the skills of handwriting.
Getting it Write is structured to make a frustrating but necessary
task fun. At The Therapy Place, our hope is that children
will develop a more positive attitude toward practicing handwriting,
a skill for which many have received little positive feedback.

Getting it Write is a six-session program. To participate,
children must have been exposed to the alphabet and previously
taught how to form letters. First- and second-graders will
print; older children will write in cursive.

Each 90-minute class begins with 20 to 30 minutes of games
and sensory-motor activities that affect handwriting abilities.
These include activities for body awareness, motor planning,
proprioception (the sense of position and the unconscious
awareness of sensations coming from one’s joints, muscles,
tendons, and ligaments), kinesthesia (the conscious awareness
of joint position and body movement in space, such as knowing
where to place one’s feet on the stairs when climbing without
looking), tactile discrimination, coordinating both sides
of the body, memory, visual perception, ocular control, fine
motor coordination, intrinsic hand strengthening, and relaxation
techniques.

• The last half of each session focuses on handwriting practice,
  including tips on proper hand and paper positioning, posture,
  and grips.
• Snacks are provided to help your child organize, promote
  socialization, and encourage a fun approach to handwriting.
• Short daily practice work is provided to be completed
  during the week. Parents will receive information and guidance
  on how to provide extra support at home.
• Contact us if you have questions or are interested in
  Getting It Write for your child.

Click here for current group schedule.

ILAUGH approach to Social Thinking
The ILAUGH social thinking program explores a variety of
areas that contribute to social thinking and related skills.
The ILAUGH acronym represents elements of disability that
contribute to social interaction skills, personal problem
solving skills and organizational skills.

Deficits in social cognition are difficult to reveal through
traditional standardized assessment tools as many children
with social cognitive deficits fall in the “average range”
on standardized measures of expressive and receptive
language. Yet, there’s “still something…”. These children
tend to have difficulty initiating (I), listening with their
eyes and brain (L), thinking abstractly and making
inferences (A), understanding other’s perspective (U),
getting the big picture (G), and understanding humor in
terms of the subtleties and timing (H). An ILAUGH assessment
is designed to assess a child’s individual strength and
weaknesses in these areas. The ILAUGH approach provides an
innovative framework to examine a child’s social cognition
through formal and informal testing procedures and provides
intervention designed to address a child’s social cognitive
deficits in a group format.

The ILAUGH approach is appropriate for children who are at
least 7 years old and have demonstrated average to above
average cognitive skills. The approach is utilized in a
small group setting of three to four children. Those who may
benefit from this approach may include, but are not limited
to, persons diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, Non-Verbal
Learning Disability, High-Functioning Autism, Pervasive
Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified and Attention
Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder.

If you are interested in pursuing a social thinking
assessment for your child or if you have any questions,
please contact
us.

Click here for current group schedule.

Music Therapy
The Therapy Place is continuing its partnership with the MacPhail Center for Music to offer music therapy
at The Therapy Place. The MacPhail Center for Music, Music Therapy Department will be offering two,
45-minute group music therapy sessions at The Therapy Place this summer, as well as individual sessions.

Music therapy is the prescribed use of music by a qualified music therapist to effect positive changes in the psychological, physical, cognitive, or social functioning of children with health or educational problems.

Goals for group music therapy services would include, but are not limited to:

• Sensorimotor exploration
• Verbal expression
• Validation of emotions and feelings
• Increase self esteem and self worth
• Opportunity for emotional expression
• Initiative in peer interaction/socialization.
• Body awareness, impulsivity, attention span and following directions

The Music Therapist will use the following techniques to achieve the above mentioned goals
depending on your child’s developmental or cognitive functioning :

• Song Writing
• Therapeutic Drumming/Instrument and Rhythmic Exploration
• Lyric Analysis
• Pattern Sensory Enhancement
• Therapeutic Instrument Music Performance
• Social Story Songs

Contact us if you have questions or are interested in
Music Therapy for your child.

Click here for current group schedule.

Play Groups
Play is the essence of a child’s world. Play groups at
The Therapy Place offer a place for children with special
needs to come together and interact under the supervision
of an occupational therapist and/or speech therapist. Play
groups provide a supervised arena for children to develop
their gross and fine motor skills, as well as their social
abilities. By participating in a play group, your child may
experience positive play opportunities that can enhance his
or her self-esteem, coping abilities, play exploration, and
social development.

Groups are made up of four to five children of similar ages
and levels of function. Each group will meet approximately
six times for two hours. The group will include structured
play opportunities appropriate for each child in the group.
Social behavior development will be emphasized, including
the ability to listen to others, to include others, to express
positive and negative feelings to others, and to think of
consequences before acting.

Structured social skills training is guided by skillstreaming
programs and the LEAP Outreach program. Skillstreaming is
a technique used to teach social skills to children who show
delays in social skill development. It is designed to help
children develop competence in dealing with interpersonal
conflicts and learn to use self-control. The approach uses
modeling, role-playing, performance feedback, and transfer
of skills through homework. LEAP (Learning Experiences, and
Alternative Program for Preschoolers and their parents) targets
goals in social, emotional, language, adaptive behavior, cognitive,
and physical developmental areas.

Peer play groups are formed three or four times per year.
Prepayment is required for the program and the cost is dependent
on the number of sessions. Families may submit invoices for
reimbursement from their insurance companies. The Therapy
Place does not invoice insurance companies for this program.
To ensure consistency and successive growth experiences, attendance
is critical to the success of a play group.

Contact us if you have questions about peer play groups or
are interested in your child participating in any of the groups
listed here.
Click here for current group schedule.

Social Group
The social group program emphasizes those skills necessary to participate in groups, initiate appropriate social interactions, interpret non-verbal social cues, recognize other’s perspectives and reciprocal social conversation in a small group setting.

Click here for current group schedule.
contact
us.

SOS Approach to Feeding Groups
The SOS (Sequential Oral Sensory) feeding program is a
non-invasive developmental approach to feeding. It focuses
on increasing a child’s comfort level exploring and learning
about the different properties of foods, including texture,
smell, taste and consistency. The SOS approach allows a
child to interact with food in a playful, non-stressful way.

The SOS approach follows a hierarchy to feeding, beginning
with the basic ability to tolerate food in the room, in
front of him/her, touching and eventually tasting and eating
foods.

Parent education and involvement is an important part of
this feeding approach. A therapist works directly with the
parents while they are watching each feeding session to
learn this approach to feeding. Parents learn to identify
physical signs and “body language” to identify when the
child is over stimulated and to assist with setting up the
home program.

This approach can be utilized in one to one settings, as
well as with small groups of 3-4 children. Feeding groups
are held one time per week for 10-12 weeks. For more
information contact
us.

Yoga
Yoga helps people of all ages develop
strong, healthy bodies, learn to respect
themselves and the environment around
us, and build self-esteem. Through a series
of poses and relaxation exercises, yoga
builds strength, flexibility, balance,
and concentration. Yoga is a way for us
to take time from our everyday lives to
focus on strengthening our bodies, releasing
the tensions that can build up in our
muscles and minds, and enhancing our feelings
of peace and well-being. Practiced alone
or alongside other therapeutic activities,
yoga will enhance physical and neurological
needs, tone internal organs, and stimulate
nerves and glands.

Yoga can help children with ADHD learn calming techniques
that can be used in and out of class. For children with cerebral
palsy, yoga can increase flexibility. Children in the autism
spectrum can benefit as they would in a social/peer group.
We need to interact and respect our friends in yoga just as
we do in the everyday world. We use patterns that the children
can easily grasp and build on. Since there is something for
everyone in yoga, we offer a variety of classes: special needs
classes, children’s classes, family classes, and adult classes.
Everyone is welcome!

Contact
us or Click here for current
group schedule.