College Transition – Summer Social Skills Group

I am looking for a summer social skills group to help my neurodiverse son or daughter successfully adapt to college life.

College can be an exciting time of life. However, it also includes changes in routine, less structure, greater stress, demands on self-advocacy skills, and potential disconnection from loved ones. As parents, you want to see your child successfully adapt to college.

You have concerns about your child's ability to advocate for themselves, be independent, and build a supportive social network. For instance, you hope they will make friends and connect with college staff.  But, you remember the difficulty they had making friends in high school. You don't want them to have the same struggles in college. Perhaps, you're worried because they still rely on you to help them advocate and navigate difficult situations.

In high school, you attended IEP meetings or intervened with e-mails and calls to the schools sometimes. Basically, you were your child's number one supporter.  However, you know your child needs to advocate for themselves in college. Our Summer Program is a way that you can help your child adapt to the changes that come with college and learn self-advocacy skills.

While there are a lot of things you can't do for your child as they transition to college (attend classes with them, intervene with roommate problems, have regular chats with professors), encouraging them to attend our Summer Program is one thing you can offer as a parent.

Our Social Skills Curriculum

This social skills group focuses on the development of social communication skills and self-advocacy skills. Both sets of skills are important for young people to successfully adjust to college. Our social skills group provides helpful strategies to improve conversational and active listening skills. Furthermore, participants learn strategies to find and maintain friends with shared interests and to manage social anxiety and stress. This program will help prepare your youth to communicate with professors and other college staff, to identify and advocate for their needs, and to increase independence throughout their college career.

Will Social Skills be practiced in the group?

Absolutely!  This group gives your teenager or young adult the opportunity to practice the social skills they are learning every time we meet! In the group, your child will get to know other college-bound students who are also working on increasing their independence and social skills. Group members will support and encourage your son or daughter. Over the course of 5 weeks, students will get to know each other in a safe setting with the support of a highly-trained autism therapist. Therefore, the group itself gives your child an opportunity to have a positive experience in a social setting!

We are excited to offer our group as a resource in California to young adults with autistic traits or social difficulties. The group will be offered online, and so California residents can attend from San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, and other California cities.

We feel the summer is the perfect time to focus on learning the skills that will help them start next school year off on the right foot. Furthermore, these skills will help them maintain that success throughout their college career! The group consists of up to 8 students and meets twice weekly for 1.5 hours online through our secure video chat platform.