Social for Life

Event Details

SOCIAL for LIFE

A Social Communication Group for Teens and their Social Coaches (Parents, Guardians, Support-Workers)

***This program runs from Monday, October 16, 2023 – Monday, December 11, 2023. Group meetings will be held every Monday during that period.***

Rosslyn Delmonico, SLP, and Shelley Lazarus, Certified Teacher, PEERS and Colour My Conversation Instructor, are excited to offer Social for Life this Fall! They have been running social skill groups in the Fraser Valley since 2018.

This is an eight-week Social Skills Group where teens will improve their ability to strengthen their communication skills and social connections with others, while at the same time, parents are mentored in supporting their teen’s acquisition of social communication skills.

The evidence-based social communication program, COLOR MY CONVERSATION, will be implemented to help teens and parents meet their goals to be more connected, confident and social!

For the TEENS: during each small group session, students are taught important social skills and are provided with opportunities to practice these skills through fun and engaging activities (i.e. interactive games).  Weekly homework assignments are given to provide learners with the opportunity to practice their social skills in real-life situations.

For the PARENTS: you play a vital role in supporting your child during the CMC training.   In our weekly parent groups, valuable coaching techniques will be provided so that you can support your teen in strengthening their communication skills and social connections with others (i.e. friends, family, teachers, etc.).  Our meetings, which run at the same time as the teen sessions, will equip you in helping your child with the weekly homework assignments.

 LESSON GOALS:

Part One (October-December) 

1. Increasing consistent and appropriate use of greetings and farewells.
2. Improving joint attention and social referencing.
3. Increasing competence and confidence in the use of small talk (i.e. conversation starters, conversation stoppers).
4. Improving reciprocity and conversational turn-taking.
5. Increasing competence and confidence in having phone conversations.
6. Improving the ability to identify and discuss topics of conversation (i.e. common topics, new information, unique topics of interest).
7. Improving the ability to give positive praise and constructive criticism.
8. Improving the ability to ask questions and make comments that are relevant to the topic of conversation.
9. Improving the ability to ask follow-up questions.
10. Improving the ability to be an active listener.
11. Improving competence and confidence in making topic transitions.
12. Improving competence and confidence in reading nonverbal communication.