BUILDING BLOCKS FOR SOCIAL SUCCESS

The social skills curriculum at The Lighthouse Project is designed around 1x1hr/week program. Interventions are conducted using sensory integration interventions and physical workouts together with Character Building, Friendship, Self Control, Bully Free Kids, Fine Motor Group, and visual integration interventions to help with School Success. Although each group has a particular focus, it is the nature of occupational therapy and occupational performance to infuse social skills throughout each group. Thus the emphasis and goals will be based on the main topic, but other components, such as sensory integration, frustration tolerance, and "engine" regulation for example, will be prevalent throughout each group. A short briefing after each session will be conducted by the therapist to help parents work on the behavior at home.

Interventions are designed and customized based on the age and individual needs of the children in the group. Most groups are specially designed for girls or boys only. Example of the group interventions include:


CHARACTER BUILDING
Students work to develop skills to support capable, moral teens and adults. Activities associated with this program are designed to build "character muscles" to help make life better for themselves and those around them. Skills center around friendship, kindness, cooperation, caring, and sharing.

FRIENDS
What are the rules of being a good friend? For most of us, the rules include being able to cooperate and play fairly. This group therefore concentrates on skills related to proximity (staying in or appropriately defending our personal space), developing skills for thinking of others when having a conversation and playing, and using good coping skills when challenged by social situations.

MANNERS
Develop good manners, learn rules of proper behavior (and not grossing people out) to learn socially acceptable behaviors at home, school and in the world. Includes safe use of knife and fork, light meal preparation.

COOL FACTOR, FITTING IN
Being "cool" is an abstract concept with real, identifiable invisible rules and a critical element for social success. Being cool includes understanding the nonverbal rules of tone of voice, (clothes, hair, grooming), proximity (joining groups successfully) and having integrity (being organized, keeping your word, knowing yourself)

SELF-CONTROL
Learning skills of friendship and social performance is important but without the foundational ability to tolerate frustration, to control your emotions or to deal with competition (being a good winner and loser), there is little access to learned behavior.

PLAY AND LEISURE BEYOND A GLOWING BOX
Okay, so you have developed frustration tolerance, you know how to stay in your space, you got your school work done because now your handwriting is fast but how do you join a group at recess? Invite a friend over to play something without an electrical cord?

SAFETY
Being safe in one's environment requires an eye towards understanding and using the nonverbal cues in the environment such as home safety (identifying fire hazards, cooking safely), community safety (anticipating consequences when entering social events, novel neighborhoods, new friends' homes) and environments safety (use of fire extinguisher, earthquake prep, safety in intimacy).

BULLY FREE KIDS
Bullies - whether you are one or are the target of one, bullies are a pain. Students will learn assertiveness skills, ways to anticipate and stay free of bullies, how to identify and report bullying behaviors, frequency of bullying assessment, socially appropriate strategies for dealing with bullies and tips for friendship (bully prevention).

FINE MOTOR
Learning to use your hands for purposeful tasks is an essential skill for all occupational endeavors, school, home and social. Children with fine motor difficulties have difficulty with dressing, eating, using scissors, handwriting, playing games and frequently use avoidance strategies as compensation, thus moving farther and farther behind in their skills. This class provides a light social challenge while supporting development of hand skills.

SCHOOL SUCCESS
The role, or occupation of the student requires a number of skills such as the ability to tolerate waiting, share supplies, take turns, listen, attend, and the feeling of resiliency (I am able!).

ORGANIZING ACTIVITIES
What does it take to plan: a birthday, a holiday event, a pajama party, a sleepover, and outing, a picnic? How do you plan a vacation with your family? This class will show you how to be prepared for activities so that there are no last minute suprises! This session also addresses confidence building, remembering details, preparing for the worst, and back up plans.