Social Moments with HARS!

Our First Social Skills Meeting of 2017

Some of the key characteristics of autism are difficulty with social communication, social interaction, and social imagination. Because of this, it is ALWAYS heartwarming to see our children playing and interacting with one another, as friends. It is also wonderful to get together with moms who are dedicated and keenly focused on the social dynamics of their children's lives. I absolutely LOVE our group. 

Our social skills group has been meeting for almost a year now. During this time, we all have been growing together. I love the varying dynamics in the children's personalities, language and communication skills, and cognitive abilities. And most importantly, I love the fact that our children have people to hang out with that accept them as they are.

To start the meeting, the children played games such as Lucky Ducks and "Sly Fox". 

Next, we had the kids sit in a circle and share with each other what they did over Christmas break. Each one of them had lots to say and some of them asked additional questions of their peers relating to Christmas break and presents received.

After the children finished their "Greet & Share", we had them come over to the tables to complete an activity, collaborative drawing. Collaborative drawing is when two or more people draw together to complete a picture. There are many variations, mediums, and methods that can be used to do this.

Collaborative Drawing

We put the children in groups of two and provided them with a piece of white paper that had one object already on it, the sun with clouds. Two moms modeled the directions while at the same time explaining the directions to the children. (We found out really quick that one mom was inept at drawing animals. Haha! No worries, thankfully, the other mom was skilled enough to make the animal look like an animal. Smiles!)

Materials for this activity 

White printer paper with one object drawn on it

Markers and pencils

Directions

One person draws an object on the paper. 

Then passes the paper to their partner. 

Then the partner draws an object on the paper and passes it back.

Each child draws four objects on the paper (Some children may enjoy coloring in their objects after they draw them.)

After each child draws their four objects, then each child "tells a story" to the group about their collaborative drawing.

(The objects could be anything the child thinks of. However, if the child expressed difficulty in thinking up an object one of the moms guided them.).

Exquisite Corpse

During the next activity, we created an Exquisite Corpse on white card stock paper. 

• We passed out sheets of animated characters to help the children with ideas. 
• The children watched this video showing and telling them what they would be doing, then they (with the help of their moms) completed the activity. 

We ended our meeting with goodbyes, hugs, and "See ya soon".

During the next meeting, our lesson and related activities will be on "interrupting".

Criteria to join our social skills group

• The participant must have the ability to sit in a group setting.
• The participant must participate in the activities.
• The participant must be 7-12 years old.

Currently, we have two spots open for girls 7-12 years old. If you are interested or have questions contact me, Maranda Marvin, at harsgroup2015@gmail.com or through our Facebook page.