This small group social skills coaching class is designed to increase your child's ability to communicate socially and improve their emotional intelligence.  It can be taken alone, but could also be paired with my 1-1 Social Skills class in order to receive a more personalized and in-depth experience. 

Although this class is perfect for neurodivergent students who sometimes struggle with social skills (ADHD, Autism spectrum), it is open to any student who would like to improve their communication and social skills. 

I purposely keep this class very small, limiting it to only 4-6 students, in order to give students as much personal attention and practice time as possible.  I have set very small age ranges as well, in order to group students with similarly aged peers. I feel that is important when gaining peer experience with social skills. If you feel that your child functions at an age that is different from their chronological age, please reach out to me and I will help you to select the most appropriate age group. This class listing is for ages 14-17.

Most classes will consist of the following format:
1. Approximately 5 minutes of general socializing time
2. Approximately 10 minutes of teacher instruction on a specific skill
3. Approximately 10 minutes of paired practice of that skill (with a class of 4-6 students, 1 pair will converse while using a certain skill, and the other pairs will observe. We will then switch pairs, and the first pair will listen.  As much as I can, I will ensure that practice time is as equal as possible for each student)
4. Approximately 5 minutes of teacher feedback on the paired practice, as well as assigning of outside of class practice.

*That being said, there are a few topics that we will cover that involve more instructional time on my end, and less practice time on the students' end.  This does not happen often, and I will try to add extra practice in later classes if possible.


Our schedule is as follows:


Week of 11/3: Group conversations vs. individual Conversations
Week of 11/11: Group Conversation vs. Individual Conversations Part 2
Week of 11/18: Group Conversations vs. Individual Conversations Part 3
NO CLASS THE WEEK OF 11/25!
Week of 12/2: Difficult Conversations
Week of 12/9: Difficult Conversations Part 2
Week of 12/16: Personal Space
NO CLASS THE WEEK OF 12/23!
Week of 12/30: (NO CLASS FOR TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY SECTIONS THIS WEEK!); Setting of Boundaries
Week of 1/6: Appropriate Assertiveness
Week of 1/13: Personality types (Introvert vs. Extrovert) and how to recognize and respect the differences
Week of 1/20: Reciprocal Conversations
Week of 1/27: Reciprocal Conversations continued
Week of 2/3: Starting Conversations with Confidence 
Week of 2/10: Importance of Eye Contact
Week of 2/17: Starting Conversations (Asking questions, asking for advice)
Week of 2/24: Starting Conversations (Using compliments, introducing self to strangers) [NO CLASS FOR MONDAY SECTION THIS WEEK!]
Week of 3/3: Starting Conversations (Shared experiences, wrapping up with practicing all techniques)
Week of 3/10: Maintaining conversations (Asking open-ended questions)
Week of 3/17: Maintaining conversations (Conversational branching)
Week of 3/24: Maintaining conversations (Shared interests)
Week of 3/31: Wrapping up maintaining conversations using all techniques
Week of 4/7: Active Listening Part 1 (Nonverbal)
Week of 4/14: Active Listening Part 2 (Verbal)
Week of 4/21: Active Listening (Restating/Reflecting)
Week of 4/28: Recognizing of Nonverbal Cues (Body language, facial expressions, tone of voice, etc)
Week of 5/5: Active Listening Practice Class (We will utilize all of the techniques we've learned in the four previous weeks)
Week of 5/12: Ending Conversations Part 1
Week of 5/19: Ending Conversations Part 2
NO CLASSES FOR 5/25-6/10!
Week of 6/11: How to enter ongoing conversations 




A couple of things to note:
-It is important for the student to have the camera turned on throughout the class. Although I normally don't mind cameras being turned off in other classes, it is important for them to be on in this class to help with nonverbal communication skills.
-Feel free to drop in and out as needed, depending on what topics you are most wanting instruction on. This class does usually have a relatively long wait list though, so just be aware that your spot cannot be held for you.  
-If you come in midway through the schedule, please don't worry! The schedule will be added to as we progress through the classes. As we end the list of topics, we will restart with the first topic on the list (dates will be changed accordingly on the schedule).