The Purpose and Benefit of Sensory-Based Social Playgroups
Welcome! Today we are diving into the outstanding benefits of sensory social playgroups. These groups complement our existing social skills programs but come with a unique twist—they're led by both a speech therapist and an occupational therapist. This approach allows us to target social language topics while incorporating occupational therapy techniques and sensory strategies to enhance children's success in these activities.
Understanding the Sensory Social Playgroups
The activities of this playgroup incorporate both occupational therapy and speech therapy techniques to teach social skills to children.
Many children require the input of an occupational therapist to fully attend to learning social skills. For some children, this might look like bouncing on a therapy ball, using fidgets, or just having other supports in place to help them focus and attend to tasks.
Within these playgroups, we address a range of topics for social development, including:
nonverbal communication
reading and using cues
active participation in conversations
self-advocacy
working as a team to achieve a common goal
Our approach involves educating on these topics, application through fun activities, incorporating occupational therapy techniques, and reflecting on experiences.
We maintain small group sizes of two to three children per session. This allows our therapists to work closely with each child, focusing on skills that they are carrying over from their regular occupational therapy and speech therapy sessions.
Real-Life Application of Social Play Group Skills
The ultimate goal of our program is to encourage and apply the skills learned in social playgroups to real-life settings, such as school, home, and group activities. For example, we see these skills applied when a child engages in small-talk with a peer at school, when advocating for their needs at home if they are overwhelmed or overstimulated, as well as in activities where your child is working with others and compromising to make decisions. We equip families and caregivers with strategies and recommendations to support skill development at home.
During these social playgroups, your child will likely be asked to work as part of a team with other members of the group to complete projects that will use occupational therapy skills. This can include:
fine motor skills
visual motor skills
social skills (the primary focus of these groups)
sensory processing skills
emotional regulation skills
If your child is not currently seeing an occupational therapist and you have concerns about any of these areas, we encourage you to consult with their therapist to explore additional avenues of support.
If you believe your child would benefit from our sensory social playgroups or you want to learn more, please don't hesitate to contact us at (763) 450-9400. We're here to assist you every step of the way!
