Social Skills Training

What is Social Skills Training?

Social skills training is designed for children or adolescents who have a variety of social, communication, and/or relationship problems. They may be too shy, react impulsively, continually create conflicts, seem unaware of interpersonal cues, have few social skills, or simply find it hard to make or keep friends. Silber Psychological Services offers social skills training groups for children in grades K-12. Children are generally grouped with others of the same-gender and roughly the same age. Groups are typically held for 60-90 minute sessions on a weekly basis at an after-school time. Most groups are “open ended,” with children entering into and terminating from group as appropriate to their own  needs. 

Why choose Social Skills Training?

Social skills training in a group format is a unique type of therapy which can have a tremendously positive impact. Adequate social skills are vital to getting along with others and forming satisfactory relationships with peers. Peer rejection or lack of positive peer interactions impact negatively on children’s functioning at school, their moods, their attention to other life tasks and their general self-esteem.  For children experiencing such problems, group treatment offers many advantages as a form of treatment. Group treatment offers a ready-made social situation in which to learn new ways of relating to others, to receive role-modeling, to practice new skills, to get feedback from peers, to share problem-solving ideas, and to feel supported in a safe environment. Children who are experiencing peer problems can learn important behavioral, communication, and relationship skills through group therapy

What can I expect in a Social Skills Training Group?

Your child will be invited to join a new or existing group following the decision that group therapy would be a recommended form of treatment.  Although groups differ in focus, most groups are structured to include general sharing time, direct instruction of specific social skills, problem-solving training, and group activity. Most of the group sessions involve more direct skill-training and practice activities. Many of the groups also use behavioral contracting as a way of measuring a child’s progress on goals and providing tangible rewards to motivate as they learn new habits. Length of treatment varies considerably depending on the severity of the problems, commitment, motivation, and ability to change on the part of the child and the parents. By the time your child is ready to graduate from group,  we would expect a child to be a more confident person who can better handle the daily challenges of living and better control his or her actions and happiness. 

Compliance Training

What is Compliance Training?

Compliance training is a specialized parenting approach designed for parents of children who frequently refuse to follow directions, resist limits set on their behavior, and display other behavior problems.  This approach works best for children two to eight years of age.  The focus of this type of therapy is on providing parents with skills for managing difficult behaviors in young children through teaching and practice sessions.

Why choose Compliance Training? 

Compliance training is recommended for parents who are overwhelmed with oppositional and negative behavior.  Once established at home, strategies used in Compliance Training work very well at school, too.  Specific goals addressed in Compliance Training include getting your child to follow directions the first time, responding appropriately to attention-seeking behavior, and providing consistent consequences for aggressive and destructive behaviors.

What can I expect with Compliance Training? 

Compliance training is a program tailored to assist parents in managing difficult behaviors in 4 to 8 sessions.  Behavior observations and relationship enhancement techniques provide the foundation of further discipline work.  Parents are given instructions for giving good directions and following up with appropriate consequences for compliant and noncompliant behavior.  The therapist will assist in fine tuning strategies to fit your family’s needs.  Parents can expect to see children following directions, arguing less and interacting better with peers and adults in a relatively brief period of time.  Lots of homework assignments are given, and parents who follow-through at home are rewarded with the greatest number of changes.