Practicing Social Skills

When our children are learning multiplication, we often quiz them on the facts.  For upcoming spelling tests, we help teach our children word patterns and chunking strategies so they can learn them.  When building reading fluency, we practice reading with our children at night on books of interest and talk about the story to build their comprehension.  It’s beautiful and rewarding when we get to be a part and see our children begin doing these skills on their own.  They have now learned them.

Teaching social skills is no different.  When a child is missing strategies and hidden social cues, often times, adults get frustrated around him/her because we expect the child to know what to do.   We think….why is my child struggling socially when we’ve talked about this so many times?

The fact is, some children miss learning those social skills intutivitley.  We often take for granted that we have these skills so we wonder why our child is struggling?  Tthe good news is that a child can be taught social skills cognitively.  Just like teaching a child a chunking strategy for remembering a longer spelling word, he/she can be taught strategies on how to find those “hidden” social cues in different environments and be taught skills on how to navigate them. It’s beautiful and rewarding when we get to be a part of and see our children begin using these skills on their own.  They have now learned them and continue to grow their social thinking.

Our next set of social classes begin next Sunday, October 8th.  Each session is six-weeks. You can find specific details here Registration for Social Skills Classes October 8th-November 12th

Our door is always open. If you have questions or would like to find out more about our classes to see if it’s a good fit for your family, please reach out to us at confidentsolutions7@gmail.com.

With Appreciation,

Christina and Wendy

Registration for Social Skills Classes April 23rd-May 28st

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Registration is now open for our last set of social skills classes before the Summer! 

For some students, obtaining and utilizing good social skills do not come naturally. They move through their environment having a difficult time communicating and understanding more than just direct language-based interactions. For example, good social skills include sharing space with others and learning to regulate one’s own behavior to other people’s thoughts or expectations as well as using your whole body to understand what people are “saying” around you. For some students, these skills need to be taught.

We are offering three different sessions, each with a specific focus. We believe that empowering the parent/guardian is equally important in teaching social skills to a child. Please plan on staying for the parent session of your child’s class to learn what your child is learning and how to help your child at home. For session one and session two, teacher letters will be e-mailed weekly to each parent. This gives you the opportunity to share what your child is learning with his/her teacher and helps connect what your child is learning to his/her school environment.

All classes are held at 9700 Research Drive, Suite 132, Charlotte, NC 28262. The total cost for a six-week session is $225.00. To register, fill out the registration form and e-mail it to us at confidentsolutions7@gmail.com. Each group will have no more than 5 students so we can practice “thinking” about thinking as well as individualize for each child.

If you are new, we recommend beginning with the self-awareness, self-monitoring, and self-control class first. If you have questions about any classes, please feel free to e-mail us at confidentsolutions7@gmail.com.  You may be interested in reading about who could benefit from a social skills class here Who Benefits From Social Skills Classes? and Social Learning

Session 1: Social Learning through Self-Awareness, Self-Monitoring, and Self-Control

Following the Think Social! model, children and parents will learn the differences between self-awareness, self-monitoring, and self-control. Students will learn about “hidden” social expectations in different environments, how behaviors are connected to emotions, strengthen imitation skills, how to gain self-awareness with individual behaviors, move into self-monitoring tools for shifting negative behaviors into positive ones, how to identify if a problem is a big one or little one, and learn how to use your whole body to listen.  Each child will choose a personal behavior goal and learn tools to help create a shift in awareness and behaviors.

This group meets from 3:00-4:00

Session 2: Theory of Mind and Zones of Regulation

Theory of Mind is the way we understand and interpret our social world with knowing that other people have different thoughts, views, perspectives, and feelings.  Following the Theory of Mind philosophy and merging the Think Social! Zones of Regulation, students will learn how to be more mindful of other people in their social circles. They will begin to make a connection between their actions and how others are feeling. Zones of Regulation teaches children how to become aware of their emotional state and gives them tools to get back into the “green” zone.

This group meets from 4:00-5:00.

Session 3: Practicing of Social Skills

This session is designed for open practice of the social skills that have previously been taught.  We will create opportunities for the students to practice social thinking and executive functioning skills in a play environment.  This gives us the opportunity to help each child individually navigate a challenging social scenario using their tools and knowledge from previous groups.  Due to the level of individualization, instead of a weekly teacher letter, we will give our contact information to your child’s teacher and can facilitate open communication on skills their student continues to strengthen as well as get feedback on what skills need continued practice in the school environment.

This group meets from 5:00-6:00

 

With Appreciation,

Christina and Wendy

Gratitude

Happy Friday everyone! We wanted to talk, specifically, to all of you moms, dads, grandparents, and caregivers this morning.  We know first hand how being a parent of a child with special needs goes hand in hand with receiving more negative comments, judgmental statements or feedback.  Sometimes those comments come from your child’s school.  Sometimes it comes from a neighbor.  Maybe it’s a look you get from a stranger while just trying to accomplish your grocery shopping.  At times, it’s delivered from a friend.  We do believe those negative comments are a reflection of where that person is in their lives; their own personal level of awareness.  Even when understanding this,  your heart doesn’t sting any less when being on the receiving end.

It’s so important to find the positive moments in each day and note them.  Write those moments of positivity down in a journal, state them out loud, or say them quietly to yourself. Even if you start with just one a day. There is always something positive to be found.  At first, you may have to look deeper.  For example, yesterday I said a moment of “thanks” for not having to drive on I-85 for the day.  This morning I said “thanks” for the amazing, wonderful and rare morning we all had before school.  What we can promise you is, once you start noticing a positive moment in your day, you begin to shift.  You begin to notice more of them and, over time, the negative comments do not sting or stick to you like they once did.

Give it a try.  Set a goal. For 30 days notice at least one positive thing in your day.

What are you thankful for today?

With Appreciation,

Christina and Wendy

 

February’s IEP Class

Our next free parent/guardian class on understanding the components of an IEP will be held on Wednesday, February 15th.   Due to the needs of families, we have changed the time from 11:00-1:00.  This will be a “drop” in time.  Please join us during this time at your convenience and bring your questions.  We are finding it to be most helpful for families to have the opportunity to ask individual questions about an IEP process or specific parts of an IEP.  We still love to hear that you’re able to drop in! Please send us an e-mail to confidentsolutions7@gmail.com. Classes are held at 9700 Research Dr., Suite 132, Charlotte, NC 28262.  We look forward to seeing you!

With Appreciation,

Christina and Wendy

How To Find Past Posts

Do you know that we have written over 55 posts?  There is a lot of great information on our website but we are still navigating an easier way for you to find it.  For now, if you go to our homepage and scroll down slightly you will see a sidebar on the right hand side that says “Archives.”   August through January will be listed.  When you click on a specific month, the posts that we have made during that time will be listed.

For August, we have written information on knowing your forms, differences between 504s and IEPs, what to do if your child is struggling in school.  Here are a couple of direct links from August 504 and IEP’s: What’s the difference? and Know Your Forms-Referral For Help

In September, you can access posts about how to make connections with students, resources for schools, and our mission.  Here are a couple of direct links to September’s posts  Please Don’t Say “It Will Be Okay” and Know Your Forms-IEPs

When you browse through October’s posts, you will find information on how to teach our children to be includers, what can you do if your Team doesn’t agree on a decision in a meeting, what schools can’t tell you in meetings, and who benefits from social skills classes.  Here are a couple of direct links Who Benefits From Social Skills Classes? and Executive Functioning Skills

November we introduced our Middle School OTB (outside of the box) Club and wrote details about what and how to perform a Functional Behavioral Analysis.  You can find those here Middle Schoolers OTB (Outside The Box) Club and Functional Behavior Analysis (FBA)

In December, we wrote about the importance of assuming positive intent first Assume Positive Intent, school choices in North Carolina School Choice and how to formally request an evaluation from your child’s public school Requesting an Evaluation.

Also, as you browse through past posts, you will find photography paired with inspirational quotes.  We also offer a free monthly parent/ guardian class on understanding the components to an IEP.  We are excited to be hosting a Mindfulness class taught by Maria Hartemann once a month. Our six week session of social skills classes begin this upcoming Sunday. All monthly events are listed under the tab “Upcoming Events” at the top of our website. Check us out on FB as well! We are trying to “go live” once a week with answering questions that have been e-mailed to us.  Do you have a topic that you would like to hear more about? Send us an e-mail at confidentsolutions7@gmail.com.  We love connecting with you!

With Appreciation,

Christina and Wendy