Frequently Asked Questions

The questions below refer to the Social Skills Group sessions.

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Q: What is a typical group meeting like?

A: Our groups meet for 2 hours weekly for 8 or 12 week intervals. The unique design of Second Nature Social Skills fuses information based direct teaching with the ability to practice the skills within the community (natural) setting.

The first week of group focuses on transitioning to the group dynamic (introduction or refresher activities). During the second and third week of group, we allow for preview/review of vocabulary and its definitions. From the fourth week through the sixth week, we begin to practice functional social strategies and tools. Usually by the seventh week, social bonds are formed and the group activities become a chance to get together and have fun, of course direct, embedding teaching is still occurring!

Often times, your child or teen’s skills will gradually build through extensive opportunities to use these tools and strategies. The learning process is gradual and takes continuous preview, practice, and review with a highly trained individual embedding direct teaching by our SLPs and Educators.

Q: What type of field trips do the groups take?

A: Each session, the children or teens work collaboratively to formulate an outing. With guidance, they plan the time involved, negotiate/compromise/persuade one another through perspective taking, and organize a sequence of steps needed to have the outing to be successful. These skills are essential when you are working with other people either at school or work. Some past outings have included: bowling, fishing, going out to eat, playing sports, jewelry making, and scavenger hunts.

Q: I’m not sure if my child/teen is a good fit for a group meeting? How will I know how to gauge their progress?

A: It is often challenging for people to transition to group or individualized therapies. We understand this and want to assure you that transitioning in and out of group is an underlying goal for our clients and we will treat individualized behaviors accordingly. However, we do expect our clients to be in control of their bodies and respect themselves and those around them. Also, we reserve the right to endorse individual services if your child/teen needs guidance prior to entering a group setting.

After each session, we de-brief our sessions and discuss any challenges or strengths that took place during that outing based on our direct observations. This may include the frequency of prompting to be successful or how many times an expected/unexpected behavior occurred. We also ask for your feedback and provide us with information that happens at home-whether it’s a new skill or a challenging skill that needs direct instruction.

In addition to these observations, we provide you with a weekly checklist to help you reinforce the vocabulary, language, and strategies/tools being used with us. This allows for the family to be involved with the generalization of skills as well.

Q: What are your attendance policies for the group and individual sessions?

A: When we organize our groups, we use our best efforts to ensure that they are balanced and designed to maximize the growth potential of our clients. The success of the group is dependent upon all members attending as many meetings as possible. If one group member is not in attendance, the dynamics of the grouping are compromised. It is expected that each person attends group and that each family make the 8 or 12 week commitment to the group. On the other hand, we also understand that there are times when one of our clients cannot be at group. If your child or teen cannot attend a meeting, please call us 24 hours before the scheduled meeting. No refunds will be given if your child does not attend a meeting. With our individual services, we require 24 hours notice to re-schedule or the full fee may be applied.

Should inclement weather occur, group and individual sessions will be cancelled if Plymouth Public Schools are cancelled. Please check the Plymouth Public Schools website to find the status of school closings. Additionally, for our groups, we will leave a message regarding cancellation at least 1 hour prior to the group's start time. We will reschedule meetings if they are canceled due to weather.