Social Skills Groups

Discover Our Specialized Social Skills Group for Ages 2-10.

At PlayGroup children will gain…

  • Joyful social interactions

  • New play skills

  • Stronger social communication skills

  • Skills for self-advocacy

  • Confidence in social settings

  • Support for parents

We believe that all children have unique strengths and the desire to connect with others.

At PlayGroup, we support children and families in discovering their strengths. We believe every child deserves to be themselves while learning skills to play and connect at school, at home, and in the world.

Let’s learn to be ourselves — together.

How it works

When you join our Social Skills Group, your child will attend an hour-long group session one afternoon a week for a semester. In small groups of 6 children and 2 adults, they will be encouraged through child-led play with material that supports engagement and connection.

Our Approach

Joyful, individualized, and interest-led

Through play, movement, cooking, building, and creating our framework of interactive activities will provide an environment where children can:

  • lead with their interests

  • develop and strengthen their individual social abilities

  • grow in a progressive manner

Each session is structured to include a variety of activities and materials, with plenty of space to flexibly build upon what interests the children in the group.

While each group is individualized, here is an example of a typical schedule for groups.

Meeting

We have a meeting where we show the schedule and preview the fun for the session. This can be time for checking in on our bodies and feelings, learning about play choices or talking about our day before PlayGroup.

Play

Educators circulate throughout the room, supporting children in difficult moments and encouraging healthy risks, such as sharing an idea with a new friend. We help children build connections with peers.

Group Activity

We come together as a group to work on a shared goal. This can include movement, art, games, reading a book, Minecraft escape room. The sky is the limit when we follow children’s interests!

Goodbye/Reflect

After saying goodbye to the group, the leaders meet to reflect and plan for the following week.

Our Classes

PlayGroup is full of toys, games, art projects, cooking, movement, and most of all: Fun!

While some of our students enjoy the open-ended sessions we provide, many of our children enjoy more directed and structured activities.  We have begun offering these classes.  Let us know if you are interested in learning more.

  • Join us as we introduce new and different building materials to work together on planned activities.  We come together to first make our plans, then introduce materials and learn how to use them toward completing our plan.  We introduce materials such as found objects, LEGOs, magna-tiles, Marble Run, hollow blocks, boxes, wood, and many more!

  • Some of our student's favorite part of the session is a snack. So why not come together to make our own snacks? In our cooking classes, we come together to choose, plan, and complete some favorite snacks.  We cook our way through several cookbooks and even try some of our own recipes. Hot sauce and banana pie?! This is a great way to encourage conversation, extend function skills, and promote relationships with food.

  • Join our interactive games groups!  We begin with collaborative games to encourage group dynamics, and as we become comfortable with the group, we slowly introduce more risk-taking "winning and losing" games. Join us as we play classic and new games.  We even begin creating our own!

  • Some of our students connect best through movement. In these classes, we explore a variety of ways to connect. We use Yoga, gross-motor games, dance, and meditation.

“We are so grateful for that our son has had an opportunity to participate in PlayGroup these past couple of years. The leaders are thoughtful about encouraging individual children and helping all the kids work together as a group. My son is learning skills that he applies to other relationships and is making good friends. And I'm making supportive friends with the other parents!”

Let’s start with a conversation

3 simple steps to get started

  • Step 1 - Schedule an information call

    Contact us by email or use the form. Once received, we will schedule a 30-minute consultation to determine how we can help and answer your questions.

  • Step 2 - Learn about each other

    We chat so that we can learn the best way to support you, you can learn about us and answer any questions you may have.

  • Step 3 - Make a plan

    We will work together to find the best fit for you and your child to begin the journey toward joy and social confidence.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Playgroup embraces a neurodiversity-centered model, which recognizes multiple communication styles and varied skills and preferences within social dynamics. We support children in learning about themselves, perspective-taking, problem-solving, building safe and healthy relationships, and advocating for their wants and needs while respecting those of others.

  • At the end of each session, we send home a very detailed email outlining the events from the session. We include language used, any curriculum or themes covered as well as the book we read. In addition to the weekly email, we are also always available via email and for calls.

  • In addition to weekly emails to review what we did during groups, we also send home goals in the middle of a semester and a progress report at the end of the semester.

  • Each session is an hour long. We have classes from 3:15-4:15 or from 4:30-5:30 Mondays through Friday. This is a drop-off program and parents can wait in the waiting room or return to the office for pick up!

  • The sky's the limit! We like using recycled and natural materials to provide a sensory experience, but also use PlayMobil, LEGOs, Magnatiles, blocks, art materials, clay, games, and Perplexuses! We choose materials the children are interested in, and so our material collection is ever-growing

  • At the moment, our groups and services are not covered by insurance, but we do work with OPWDD here in New York City.