Group Therapy Services

Can Your Child Benefit from Social Skills Group Therapy? Social Skills Groups are not the same as a traditional play date. They are a supervised, therapeutic process with defined goals that increase social interaction skills. Children who benefit the most from structured social skills groups are those who may not be developing and navigating social skills as comfortably as some other children their age or regularly experience difficulty in social situations or with peers at school. Especially for children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), learning difficulties, cognitive delays, or communication difficulties or delays, learning how to navigate social situations successfully can be challenging. 

Regardless of a child's diagnosis, social skills groups effectively increase a child's ability to handle social situations. These groups have been shown to decrease peer rejection, increase confidence, decrease isolation or aggression, and other behavioral problems that may result from problems relating to others. 

Heritage Counseling offers Social Skills Group Counseling for clients currently attending therapeutic services in our practice. These groups are specifically tailored to our client's needs and focus on multiple areas of social development. Groups will be structured with bi-weekly topics, including fun, interactive games, and social experiences. The group is led in our Plano, TX location by Dr. Casey Ferri, PSY.D, M.S., and co-led by one of our exceptional play therapists, Muranna Sherwood, MA, LMFT. 

Our Social Skills groups will meet bi-weekly and include 4-8 children, similar in age and developmental level, with a focus on growth in the following areas:

• Non-verbal communication skills 

  • Eye contact, whole-body listening, joint attention, personal space, body language 

• Verbal Communication skills 

  • Introductions, starting, maintaining, and finishing conversations, compliments, asking questions, conversational skills, reciprocal conversations

• Friends 

  • Exploring good friendship characteristics, asking for plans, and conversation topics, finding things in common

• Recognizing and expressing emotion 

  • Understanding perspectives, kindness, apologizing, stress and coping understanding emotions, calm bodies, and brains, positive v. negative thinking

• Sharing 

  • Safe sharing (food, toys, ideas) 

  • Working with others

  • Unsafe sharing (passwords, personal information, too friendly with strangers)

• Problem-Solving 

  • Compromising, finding solutions, managing rejection, my plan v. other people's plans, making smart guesses

• Taking Turns & Playing politely

  • Going back and forth and being kind during play

  • Asking for things nicely

  • Taking turns telling a story and listening 

*Parents/caregivers are asked to facilitate the child practicing the skills learned on a daily basis outside of group time.

10 Session Curriculum

Session 1: Focus on Joining and Getting to know each other

Session 2: Focus on Friends and Verbal Communication

Session 3: Focus on Emotion identification and expression 

Session 4: Focus on Emotion Regulation and Coping Skills 

Session 5: Focus on Taking Turns and Sharing

Session 6: Focus on Decision Making 

Session 7: Being Kind to Others and Apologies 

Session 8: Focus on Sharing 

Session 9: Focus on Emotion Regulation

Session 10: Focus on Celebrating Friendship

To learn more about our Social Skill Group offered at Heritage Counseling and Consulting’s Plano office, please call 214-363-2345 ext 2.