Social Skills Groups

Helping Your Child Connect, Communicate, and Belong

Many children with autism have the desire to connect with others but lack the specific skills to do so naturally. IBM's Social Skills Groups provide a structured, supportive environment where children ages 6 to 15 learn and practice the social skills they need to build friendships, navigate school, and engage confidently in everyday life. Groups are carefully matched by developmental level, not just age, so every child is set up to participate meaningfully and make real progress.

What Your Child Will Learn

1. Foundational Social Skills

‍For children who are building their social foundation, IBM targets core skills including eye contact, joint attention, responding to their name, and basic peer interaction. These early skills form the base for everything that follows.

2. Communication and Conversation

‍Children learn how to initiate and respond to greetings, take turns in conversation, ask and answer questions, and practice active listening. Sessions focus on making communication feel natural and confident in real social settings.

3. Play and Peer Interaction

‍IBM teaches children to share, take turns, join ongoing play activities, and engage cooperatively with peers. From board games to group projects, every activity is purposefully designed to build connection.

4. Emotional Understanding

‍Children learn to identify and express their own emotions, read social cues in others, develop empathy, and understand personal boundaries. These skills are foundational for navigating relationships at school and in the community.

5. Advanced Social Navigation

‍For older children and teens, IBM targets more complex skills including conflict resolution, understanding humor and sarcasm, self-advocacy, and maintaining friendships over time.

How IBM's Social Skills Groups Work

IBM's Social Skills Groups are designed to meet children where they are developmentally and build from there. Groups are small and intentionally matched by skill level so every child can participate meaningfully. Sessions use evidence-based teaching methods including role play, video modeling, social stories, peer modeling, and structured group activities to make learning engaging and effective.

Before joining a group, every child is assessed to determine the right placement. Some children begin with individual social skills sessions to build foundational skills before transitioning into a group setting. IBM's clinical team monitors progress continuously and adjusts programming as each child grows.

Skills practiced in group sessions are specifically designed to generalize across settings, so what your child learns at IBM carries into the classroom, the playground, and home.