Social Development Programs
The goal of all our Social Development Programs is to enhance a child's self-esteem, increase his/her social awareness, and encourage the child to learn how to be a friend. Our programs emphasize the process of developing meaningful relationships, enabling children to form successful social interactions through play while therapists support each child's individual needs. By creating a positive and supportive environment, our Social Development programs provide opportunities to practice social situations with a safe and supportive peer—participants learn about others and about themselves.
Cawn/Krantz offers five unique Social Development Programs experiences:
Peer Buddies Dyad (2 therapists and 2 children): Dyads are often the initial stepping stone for a child to develop the ability to engage in a reciprocal interaction with a peer. Therapeutic support is provided by a combined team of specialists, including a speech-language pathologist, an occupational therapist, a social worker, and a developmental therapist. Therapists facilitate children's verbalizations, guide movement, support social-emotional development in play, and help initiate ideas and interactions with a peer. Each child's individual differences are considered and applied to ensure a positive and progressive therapy match for both participants.
Year-round Peer Buddies (3-4 children and 2 therapists): Our year-round groups allow children the opportunity to experience a wider range of interactions and build stable, foundational friendships. As children develop stronger relationships through time, we often see greater emotional investments and greater flexibility with play themes. Important processes of the Peer Buddies experience are meaningful usage of non-verbal cues; increasing sensory awareness, leading to more consistent self-regulation techniques around peers; and improved social language skills. We recognize the importance of process and allow our group members the time and opportunity to develop a bond with one another based on their own sensory needs. This creates a much more meaningful experience for all group members.
Summer Peer Buddies: Participating in daily camp programs can be very fun but also quite challenging. Summer Peer Buddies promotes and supports social initiations and engagement by providing participants with the opportunity to express and interact with a smaller group of peers. The program concentrates on awareness and usage of non-verbal and pragmatic language, and provides lots of enriching sensory experiences. Activities may include playing in our outdoor mini-pool, tie-dying, dress-up, and much more. Parents are provided with weekly feedback sheets to reflect on their child's social experiences.
Peer Buddies programs are carefully grouped based on initial consultation with the child & parent.
Contact Michelle Schwantz at 847-480-8890, x28 for more information on Peer Buddies.
Social Sense-Ability (Social Thinking Program™): A group at Cawn/Krantz aimed at supporting children in becoming more adept social communicators. Clinicians employ a combination of semi-structured lessons and play-based interaction to improve the cognitive skills underlying successful social interaction: perspective taking, social problem solving, and higher level linguistic skills such as predicting and inferencing. The work in these groups is derived from a variety of sources, most notably the DIR/Floortime® model as well as Michelle Garcia Winner's Social Thinking™ program. Children work with peers to understand ways of being in a group, learn to identify the "hidden rules" in social situations, and consider the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others in their social decision-making. Children who benefit the most from our Social Sense-Ability groups are generally in 2nd grade or higher and demonstrate near-average discrete language skills. A social communication evaluation is often recommended before enrolling to determine goal areas and help ensure that children are placed in an appropriate group. For more information contact Cortney Grove at 847-480-8890, x 17.
Itty-Bitty Buddies: A group language enrichment program designed for children 16-36 months of age who are developing their language through song, movement, and play. This program focuses on exploring communication using sounds, gestures, early words and word combinations. This semi-structured play group includes a brief circle time with music and movement, sensory play, and facilitated play with peers. Parents are encouraged to participate with their child throughout each session. Each parent is provided with direct instruction on how to use songs and play as effective tools to facilitate language development as well as how to strengthen the parent-child relationship to allow for more natural communication opportunities. For more information contact Caroline Ferguson at 847-480-8890, x 27.
