Building Strong Foundations for Successful Relationships
Approaching social challenges with a compassionate hand, empathetic listening, personalized plans of care and evidence-based treatment, our experienced professionals are dedicated to guiding those we serve to their fullest potential. We work alongside you, prioritizing your growth and success above all else.
With a mission to guide individuals through difficult waters of developmental, behavioral or mental health challenges and treating individuals using a forward-thinking mindset, our specialized staff focus on giving those we treat a better life.
Social Skills Groups
Being able to successfully navigate through a social world is a huge advantage. When we don’t understand what is expected of us in a social situation, we can’t modify our behavior to have successful interactions or develop relationships with others. We learn what is expected, or the social rules, from observing others and through trial and error. We learn how to read others’ emotions, to guess what others might be thinking, and to understand that people have different perspectives than our own.
When people have difficulty navigating the social world it can be overwhelming. That’s when it becomes of the utmost importance to find compassionate social skill services from a dedicated team of individuals that understand how to teach the social world. At Spectrum, our team focuses on helping individuals with social learning challenges to navigate the social world successfully so they can reach their highest potential.
Individualized social skill training.
Social Skill Training helps people learn how to process social information and therefore be more successful in social interactions. Social Skill Groups at Spectrum Transformation Group teach individuals to pay attention to social cues, how to interpret those cues, and how to problem solve. Most importantly, we aim to improve perspective-taking, which is at the core of social connectedness.
At Spectrum Transformation Group, we use a developmental and strength-based approach to social skill training. We celebrate neurodiversity (the idea that all brain differences are normal) while helping clients achieve their fullest potential. Our social skills mature over time as our relationships become more complex. We assess individuals’ skills and meet them where they are developmentally. We place heavy emphasis on the foundation of all social skills – being able to think socially. For example, instead of teaching someone to look at people in the eyes, we would teach them what to look for in others’ faces. Giving a rationale for social behavior is extremely important for skill generalization.
Transitioning Together Group
Making the switch from high school to adulthood is daunting for anyone but even more so for those with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Spectrum is proud to announce a new program specially tailored to help families be more successful in that transition. Transitioning Together is a well-researched, evidence-based treatment from the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the direction of Leann Smith, Ph.D., LCP. Transitioning Together is a multi-family group psychoeducation program for high school students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their parents. Transitioning Together gives families the tools to successfully tackle problems that arise with the transition from high school to adulthood.
Given the disruption to lives over the past couple of years, those families with individuals who graduated from high school within the past year are welcome.
Program Objectives
- Reduce stress for families of individuals with ASD
- Improve family coping and problem-solving strategies
- Support social engagement and self-direction of transition age youth with ASD
Topics Covered
- Autism in Adulthood
- Employment and College Planning
- Risks to Adult Independence
- Legal Issues and Financial Planning
- Health and Wellbeing of the Family
- Community Involvement
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The Details
- This is an 8-week program for both parents and teens. Parents and teens meet separately.
- Parents must attend.
- Both groups will be be led by Licensed Clinical Psychologists and support personnel.
- Parents and the teens must complete TWO Joining Sessions prior to the start of group.
- Please see the schedule below under “Upcoming Groups”
To get started, complete our Client Screening Form during the registration period or call our office for details at (804) 378-6141.
Social Codebreaker Sessions
Our Social Codebreakers groups are social skills groups for children and adolescents with social learning challenges and social processing delays. Participants are required to have fluent speech, average or above cognitive abilities, and the absence of destructive or aggressive behaviors. The goal of Social Codebreakers groups is to increase functional social skills that your child can use in everyday social settings. We will be focusing on fundamental social skills in creative and reinforcing ways. Some of these skills are:
• Establishing a physical presence with others
• Using eye contact to establish connectedness
• Identifying emotions from nonverbal behavior
• Appropriate greetings and good-byes
• Initiating and sustaining conversation
• Developing and maintaining friendships
• Coping with difficult emotions
In groups with older children, we tackle more complicated relational issues such as teasing and bullying, trust and keeping promises, and dating. Most importantly, we teach children how to understand others and to unlock the social code. In every lesson and activity there are opportunities to improve perspective-taking, which is at the core of social connectedness.
Focusing on your fundamental social skills.
Social Codebreakers runs for a finite number of sessions. Homework is assigned at each session to increase generalization of skills. Groups are limited in size and will target certain age ranges depending on interest and a child’s appropriateness for the group. Social Codebreakers is co-lead by Licensed Clinical Psychologists who specialize in the treatment of children and adolescents with difficulties in social communication.
We run Social Codebreaker groups throughout the year! Groups during the school year are held once a week. Summer groups are held multiple times a week to accommodate summer activities.
Children who have participated in Social Codebreakers in the past are encouraged to come back to learn new skills or to gain more practice with ones they have already been taught. It is recommended they do the group more than once! Groups are dependent on interest and are subject to change or be cancelled.
If interested in our Social Codebreakers group, please call us at 378-6141 or contact us online.
For information on upcoming groups, please see “Upcoming Groups” in the menu below.