Friendship Groups

The NeuroDevelopment Center offers social development groups for children aged 7-16 with autistic spectrum disorders or related difficulties with social functioning. The Friendship Groups make use of a developmental approach that includes ideas and techniques from the writings of Steve Gutstein, Stan Greenspan, TEACCH, and other similar methods. Groups run year-round, with an intensive summer program.

Many social skills programs teach specific behavioral skills for managing social interactions, such as how to join an interaction, how to greet and meet others, how to make a social comment or request. These skills do not help children gain the crucial ability to share personal experience in an ongoing, mutually coordinated fashion with a social partner.

In our work, we have found that the single most important developmental need of all children with autistic spectrum disorders is to build the capacity to share experiences with another person, and to enjoy the pleasure of a genuine social connection.

The NeuroDevelopment Center’s Friendship Groups have been designed to help children learn the foundation and skills for genuine experience sharing and social connection, including how to:

These essential social functions are developed through enjoyable activities carefully planned to help participants acquire, practice, and incorporate into their everyday social interactions the building blocks of experience sharing and social connection.  Groups will consist of no more than four participants who will be carefully matched by social developmental level.

Our Friendship Groups generate lots of fun. Although the activities are designed to elicit and highlight critical social functions, they are often silly, raucous, and informal – like typical peer interactions. We hear lots of laughter; sometimes the walls shake. Last year several kids insisted that they leave their beach vacations to come to the Friendship Groups. They wanted to be with their friends.

Selected sessions will be videotaped. This will allow children the opportunity to observe their own social behavior as well as provide guidance to parents for ongoing “home work”.  This facilitates practice, generalization, and transfer of skills to home and community environments.  Parents also have the opportunity to view all sessions through a one-way mirror.   

Groups are comprised of no more than four participants. We have found that it is critical that the kids be very carefully matched by their social developmental level for our groups. For this reason, we require that every applicant be carefully screened prior to being assigned to a group. Because getting the right match is essential to the success of the group, we cannot guarantee placement to every applicant. We do guarantee that we will do our best to find peers with whom each child will feel comfortable and safe.

Individual services using the same general approach will be available at The NeuroDevelopment Center for those applicants who cannot be well matched for one of our Friendship Groups.

The Relationship Development sessions will be led by Christine McGrath, PhD.., along with selected NeuroDevelopment Center staff. 

Sample Friendship Group Goals and Activities

Goal: Following the gaze of a social partner / Using nonverbal cues for problem solving

Activity: Partner A will hide an interesting object chosen by Partner B under one of four beanbags while Partner B is not looking.  Partner A has to indicate to Partner B where he has hidden the object using only his eyes.

Goal: Synchronizing and regulating actions with an unpredictable partner

Activity: One child is the leader while the other children line up shoulder-to-shoulder and attempt to remain synchronized with the leader (hopping, stopping, running, etc.) Or, in the "trick Partner" variant of this activity, the leader attempts to trick the followers by suddenly doing something unpredictable or unexpected.

Goal: Working cooperatively towards a common goal

Activity: A dry erase board is held horizontally with one child at each corner. Several balls are placed on the board. The task is to coordinate movements to move the board across the room without balls rolling off.

Goal:  Creating together with friends and appreciating novelty

Activity:  Social partners each select their favorite game (within the same genre) and describe three important elements of that game.  The social partners will jointly create a new game that combines the important elements from each game.  Together they name the game and play the game.  Then the partners make a video explaining the process and how to play the game.

Goal: Learning the perspective of another social partner / Resolving conflict without blame.

Activity: A video segment is shown from a previous session.  Social partners play a conflict “spotting” game in which each partner has a conflict sign that they may hold when they perceive a conflict arising from the video segment.  Partners announce what type of conflict it is and then together come up with a solution.  Partners then role play the situation with a new solution.

Goal: Appreciation of close friends and memories shared.

Activity: Social partners initially write a poem communicating the unique qualities, both good and bad, of a friend that they feel close to. Partners then share with the group their poem and memories of some experiences they have had with this friend.

Our Friendship Groups make use of many activities like these, at all developmental levels, that are designed to help kids learn and practice the core skills for sharing experience and connecting with others.