What happens at PlayGroup?

Play is our method. At PlayGroup, we take play seriously, while always remembering that authentic fun is a key ingredient! Our method of play is strengths-based; we notice and build on children’s strengths, motivations and interests in play. We emphasize interaction with our students, using questions and prompting to build skills and awareness organically. We use purposeful material choices and “Play Plans” to help children initiate, organize, and extend play. We recognize and support the full development of play roles, which may include play that is unoccupied, solitary, onlooker, parallel, associative, and/or cooperative.

Using play, we weave our threads of self-awareness, self-advocacy, perspective-taking, and connections:

Self-awareness

We support students to understand and validate themselves. PlayGroup students learn to identify their ideas, feelings, needs, preferences, etc.—and that their perspectives matter.

We particularly help students build language around their emotions and understand their own behavior as communication.

Self-advocacy

We support students in learning to express themselves effectively and safely.

We assist students in accessing sensory materials to promote self-regulation.

Perspective-taking

We support students in learning to notice and interpret the communication (verbal, nonverbal, behavioral, etc.) of others.

We acknowledge the context of “regulation privilege,” helping students understand that regulation might appear differently for different people.

Connections

We support our students in building community with each other through clear expectations, routines, schedules, and guided structure.

We build a group identity by following the interests of each unique group, and scaffolding social communication through greetings, play initiation, and prompts.

We encourage separation as a viable option for group engagement and support student self-advocacy when navigating engagement with group activities.

We support students in making connections with our play environment, as well as each other, modifying as needed with teacher support.