Specialty Social Skills Services

small practice.  BIG RESULTS!

The Cheerful Difference

Cheerful Chatter is small by design.  our owner, Ellen McSpadden, is solely focused on providing the highest quality of services.  Because she is 100% focused on her clients and exceptionally well trained, the progress her clients experience is simply outstanding.

Can’t make it to her office?  That’s okay!  She offers telehealth in New Jersey and Georgia.

Is your high-functioning child, teen, or young adult struggling to make or keep friends?  Are things like the lunch room, recess, gym, and group work the hardest parts of their day?  Is bullying or a bad reputation part of the picture?

They deserve reliable, evidence-based, and compassionate guidance from a licensed and certified provider.

At Cheerful Chatter, we have the license, we have the additional certifications, and we teach all the strategies.  We guide them through the five stages of social skill development so they can use their new skills with anyone, in any setting, and with confidence!

How?  By starting at step one and using a developmental, relationship-based approach.  During our individual and small group social coaching sessions, we teach the mechanics of social interactions, how to read body language, how to determine someone’s perspective, and what to do with what they notice.  When they’re ready, we’ll move onto things like striking up conversations, asking others to hangout, handling arguments, responding to bullying… we’ll even address activities like dating and getting along with others at work if they’re ready for it!

We do all of that in a direct and concrete way so they understand the nuts and bolts of every strategy before they’re expected to use them…  Learning social skills while socializing at the same time is too big of an ask and why many social skills groups fail to deliver the progress you expect and the socially-rewarding life they deserve.

We love using PEERS® with our children, teens, and young adults who have at least near-average language and cognitive skills.  Why?  Because it is one of the only research and evidence-based treatment strategies for them.  Sadly, some of the most commonly used methods and programs lack reserach and, more importantly, evidence.  But, at Cheerful Chatter we look hard at the different approaches and choose the ones that have been proven to work and that are appropriate for the individual before us.