South Jersey’s Center for Executive Function & PEERS® Social Skills Groups
Social Executive Function & Social Interaction Support for Highly Verbal Individuals
Life can be challenging when it comes to handling the unexpected, getting along with others, and building strong friendships… especially for neurodivergent children, teens, and young adults. That’s why our goal is to help those struggling Navigate! through the unexpected and Relate! to those around them. With time, a little hard work, and our holistic and cohesive approach, they will flourish, build confidence, and grow relationships with greater ease.
Navigate! Group
Cognitive Social Skills
Executive functions are a broad, but critical set of skills and some of those skills help us socialize. When our flexibility and planning skills are well-developed, we can adapt to change, accept differences of opinions, compromise and maintain healthy relationships. When these skills are weak, we often have difficulty coping.
Inflexibility and difficulty with interactions are symptoms of a missing skill… a missing skill that can be taught. We teach the skills needed for big-picture and plan-b thinking, flexibility, compromise, self-monitoring, and coping. We’ll help them understand why they are important, what to do, and how to do it. Then, we’ll practice so that use of these skills in the real world is more natural and automatic. When acceptance of change, flexibility, and coping are part of their everyday life, their participation in the social world around them will soar.
Relate! Group
Social Interaction Skills
Social skills are a complex set of visual, verbal, and vocal strategies that enhance or even change the meaning of our words. When these skills are strong, we notice and understand messages being sent to us, respond and express ourselves in a situationally-appropriate way, understand boundaries, and develop lasting friendships. When weak, misunderstandings happen, relationships deteriorate, and their entire quality of life can suffer. All this leaves them feeling isolated or rejected.
We harness their desire to engage to help them develop crucial skills. We cover essential topics such as initiating, joining, maintaining, and ending conversations, finding good friends, texting and phone calls, respectfully accepting “no” for an answer, humor and sportsmanship, responding to bullying, rumors, gossip, and disagreements… we’ll even cover dating and job skills when they’re ready.
One-on-One Support
Sometimes their language level, processing speed, attention or behavior makes participating in a group difficult. Sometimes the schedule just doesn’t work. Sometimes a private setting is more preferred. Regardless of the reason, individual support is always available!
A perk of individual sessions is that parents are not only invited to join us, we prefer it. Parents know their child best and when what we’re explaining doesn’t quite resonate with them, parents do an excellent job of explaining how the information relates to something that happened in real-life.
Small Groups
Learning social skills and being social at the same time is usually too big of an ask… that’s like trying to teach someone to swim by throwing them in the deep end (they’ll sink!). So, our groups are limited to four seats, allowing for more individualization, a pace that is appropirate for everyone, and tons of practice.
While we work, we ask parents and caregivers to observe the session from our parent room. That way, you will have the same information and be better equipped to become their Social Coach at home and in the community.
OUR GROUPS ARE APPROPRIATE FOR HIGHLY VERBAL, MOTIVATED INDIVIDUALS WITH:
Level 1 Autism Spectrum Disorder
Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Social-Pragmatic Communication Disorder
Ellen McSpadden, MA, CCC-SLP, CAS
Owner, Speech-Language Pathologist & Certified Autism Specialist
PEERS® and Unstuck & On Target!® Help Those from 3rd Grade to 30 Years Engage & Find Their Niche
Simply put, PEERS® (aka, The Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) is one of the only research and evidence-based programs out there. A minimum of two randomized-controlled studies were completed before release of each program and the results have been replicated by other institutions.
Likewise, Unstuck & On Target!® is a research and evidence-based program designed to help neurodivergent individuals develop flexibility, coping, and planning skills. Studies compared it to an empowering behavior management program and found that both children and parents preferred this approach. Improvements were seen in the areas of participation, social reciprocity, problem-solving, transitioning, getting unstuck, and being less negative.
Our programs are neurodiversity-affirming.
There are different ways of doing things… none are right, none are wrong. But, when two people are interacting in different ways, it can be hard to connect and understand the messages the other person is sending. It’s as if they’re speaking different languages.
Our goal is to help them grow new skills, understand the region’s most common social language™, and develop the problem solving skills needed to figure out for themselves what strategy might work best in any given situation. We want to empower them to confidently communicate with anyone they want, anywhere they are.
Whether working individually or in a small group, we will guide your loved one through the five stages of training. Learning new skills while having fun in a group setting is not step one… it’s step four!! That’s why so many groups seem less than effective.
At Cheerful Chatter, we ensure that each step in the process is addressed so that a solid foundation is built and they’re ready to apply their skills in the real world. We incorporate concrete and direct teaching, visuals, roleplays, and “practice days”… when gentle coaching meets real-world social activities like games and hands-on activities.
A heavy emphasis is placed on helping parents learn to coach their loved one where and when they need it. If working with your child individually, we recommend that you sit right next to them! That way, you can hear all the same information, ask questions, connect what we’re talking about to their own personal experiences, and learn how to rehearse the skills with them at home.
If working in a group, we ask you to watch a live feed of the session from our Parent Room. You’ll get most of the same benefits mentioned above.
Details & Schedules
Small Group Advantage: Limited to just four participants for individualized attention and a comfortable pace
Peer Support: As new members join, current members will play an active role in welcoming and bringing them up to speed, reinforcing their own learned skills through peer-to-peer interactions
Practice Days: Beyond direct instruction, we use gentle coaching while they engage in real-life activities like games and hands-on projects… mindful application of new skills during organic interactions allows them to build confidence
Holistic Development: Navigate & Relate! groups compliment each other, recognizing that both skill sets are foundational to successful social interactions… we’ve conveniently scheduled same-aged groups back-to-back allowing for comprehensive support with just one weekly visit
Eligibility: Good candidates have at least near-average language skills, are able to participate independently in a group, are motivated to engage, and have a dedicated adult to observe sessions and act as their Social Coach at home and in the community
Flexible Enrollment: There are no start or end dates; join when they need support and leave when they’re ready to fly on their own
Cost: Payment is made via an automated weekly subscription of $97 for group members and $130 for standing, weekly individual appointments
Getting started: Families start with a Meet & Greet… these full-length, 40-minute appointments at nearly 50% off allow us to informally assess your loved one’s motivation, language level, behavior, and determine how best to move forward
3rd-5th Graders
- Navigate! on Tuesdays at 6:00
- Relate! on Tuesdays at 6:45
Middle Schoolers
- Navigate! soon (waitlist open)
- Relate! on Wednesdays at 6:45
High Schoolers
Navigate!
- Soon (waitlist open)
Relate!
- Mondays at 6:45 (in-person)
- Thursdays at 6:45 (telehealth)
Young Adults
- Navigate! soon (waitlist open)
- Relate! soon (waitlist open)
This content is general in nature and does not constitute medical advice. You should consult with medical professionals familiar with your case before relying on this content.