Outdoor Social Skills Group

Our outdoor social skills group offered in the summer is a unique outdoor social skills training program for elementary school-age children. With its major focus on team building and cooperation training, this group can benefit already existing Stepping Stones group members or children who have never been involved in a social skills training group before. The games and exercises we play foster working together to achieve common goals. The competitive nature of sports is minimized in favor of activities that encourage collaboration and compromise.

We are fortunate that we are able to meet with our children outdoors. This allows us to use a specialized form of therapy called kinetic psychotherapy (KPT). With KPT, we play what may appear to be ordinary children's games such as Freeze Tag or Capture the Flag. These games allow us to observe and work with the children in a natural social environment where typical interactions occur.

Group huddles take some getting used to by the children who, at the beginning, resent the interruption. But once the children catch on, they seem to find it extremely useful in helping them take a look at themselves, both as a group and individually.

This "here and now" approach views interaction through a magnifying glass rather than looking at behavior after-the-fact when interventions lose their immediacy. This phenomenon of working "in the moment" is one of the great benefits of group work in general. In KPT, the addition of movement, structure, and game rules offer a rich environment for social learning and exploration to take place.

KPT is very effective in helping children

verbalize feelings rather that act them out;
find alternative coping strategies to deal with stressful situations;
take responsibility for actions;
walk in another person's shoes;
improve self-esteem;
encourage self-awareness in group members.

Schedule

These groups meet once a week in the evenings for six weeks.

For more information about our summer Outdoor Social Skills program, please contact us.

"[The therapist] was very helpful in making me comfortable with the process and made the experience enjoyable for [my daughter]. We already see improvements, some attributable to her outdoor social skills group experience."

Outdoor Social Skills group flyer

contact in step Contact us for more information or to schedule an appointment.