Social Skills Programs/Opportunities
Along Dusty Trails: Providing traditional and alternative speech-language programming, offering both 1-1 and social-language group based supports, that are engaging and tailored to each individual’s abilities. Connect to chat in more detail about your goals!
Autism Aspergers Friendship Society: Social opportunities through outings and recreational activities, for kids 8 to 17 years old, in Calgary and some surrounding communities.
Ascend Pediatrics, Social Adventures: Based off of evidence based practice programs such as Flip your Lid concepts, The Explosive Child, We Thinkers, Basic Emotions & Complex Emotions to support your child in building their social skills, self-regulation, coping strategies, and learn more about themselves!
Brown, Cassidy: Clinical behaviour specialist, offers a variety of social skills programs follows Low Arousal Approach. FSCD funding under Developmental/behavioural support contract available.
CanLearn Society: FREE Social Skills Groups and 1:1 Classes for Kids and Teens. The CanLearn Friends program is designed to help children and teens learn skills to be successful and apply them in everyday life. Confidence-building, calming techniques and mindfulness are key areas of focus in the program. Through a combination of meaningful discussions, role-playing, games and activities, children learn strategies and skills in a fun and interactive way. For Parents, provides many ideas and suggestions on how to generalize and practice the skills outside of the sessions.
Eckert Center: Kimberly Eckert, Registered Psychologist and founder of Eckert Psychology & Education Centre, has developed the Cognitive Coaching Method TM to provide individuals who have disabilities with the tools they need to find fulfillment in the social (home, school and community) and employment world. The aim of their Cognitive Coaching Method TM is to equip parents in skillfully dealing with challenging behaviour, foster decision-making skills and build independence in their child, while remaining a trusted mentor through their child’s life.
Elevated Abilities: Offers a 12-week social skills program for children ages 6-9
years old, uses elements from Social Thinking, PEERS and ABA principles. Approved FSCD Service Provider.
Koru Psychology: The Amazing Kids social skills training includes a number of recreational and educational activities designed to build your child’s social development. Topics include self-esteem, resiliency, making and keeping friends, managing emotions, and much more, depending on your child’s needs.
Moroz Psychology: Their social skills groups are small in size with only 4 to 6 children with similar age, personality and areas in need of support.
Skills to Learn: Offers 12 weeks social skills programs for children with ASD aged 6-13, with a parent education compnemt to help generalize skills outside of the class room. The program is approved for Behavioural/Developmental Aide Support funding from FSCD.
WERKLUND SCHOOL OF EDUCATION ASERT: The PEERS Social Interventions programs are evidence-based social skills program for youth 13 to 18 years old. PEERS and PEERS-YA are evidence-based and empirically-supported interventions designed to help motivated teens/adults learn how to make and keep friends. Teens/adults are taught and shown important social skills, and are given the opportunity to practice these skills during socialization activities. While teens/adults are in their own session, parents/caregivers have their own facilitated sessions where they learn how to assist their teen/adults by expanding their social network and providing feedback through coaching during weekly socialization homework assignments. PEERS For Preschoolers (P4P) is designed for children between the ages of 4 to 6 with a diagnosis of autism and who speak in at least 5 word phrases who are interested and motivated in learning how to make and keep friends. Children will learn skills such as listening and following directions, meeting and greeting friends, sharing and giving turns, keeping cool, being a good sport, and much more! Lessons include direct teaching, role plays, behavioural rehearsals, and weekly socialization assignments and homework that must be completed. Parents are simultaneously taught how to support their child’s social development.
Sibling Supports
Autism Society Alberta Toolkit: A collection of resources for the siblings of children on the spectrum.
Inclusion Foothills Sibshops (High River): Provides a safe, confidential, non-judgmental, and fun environment where brothers and sisters of special needs siblings meet other siblings, enabling them to develop supportive relationships and coaching skills.
Milestones Sibshops (McMan): Provide younger sibblings with peer support & information their sibling’s disability in a safe setting. Siblings will meet other siblings to have fun, laugh, & talk about the having a sibling with a disability.
The Sibling Support Project: The first national program dedicated to the life-long and ever-changing concerns of millions of brothers and sisters of people with special health, developmental, and mental health concerns.