


Pragmatic and Social Skills
Pragmatic and social skills are crucial for effective communication and interaction in children. Pragmatics involves the use of language in social contexts, such as taking turns in conversation, understanding and using nonverbal cues like facial expressions and body language, and knowing how to adapt language depending on the situation and the listener. Social skills encompass a broader range of behaviors, including making friends, understanding social norms, showing empathy, and resolving conflicts.
Some ways that Arbor Psychology Group’s SLPs can help children with social and pragmatic skills include:
- One-on-one therapy sessions with an SLP: These sessions offer a supportive and individualized approach to improving social skills in children. Through targeted intervention, personalized feedback, role-playing, cognitive-behavioral strategies, and the use of visual supports, SLPs can help children develop the social competence and confidence they need to succeed in their interactions with others.
- Social Therapy Dyads: These sessions involve pairing two individuals with social communication difficulties. In dyadic therapy, individuals have the opportunity to engage in naturalistic social interactions with a peer who shares similar communication challenges. This setting mimics real-life social situations, allowing participants to practice and generalize social pragmatic language skills in a supportive environment.
- Social Therapy Groups: These sessions provide a rich environment for developing social pragmatic language skills in a more diverse social context. Group therapy offers opportunities for participants to engage in naturalistic social interactions with multiple peers. This setting mirrors real-life social situations, allowing individuals to practice social pragmatic language skills such as initiating and maintaining conversations, taking turns, and interpreting social cues within a dynamic group dynamic. Group therapy also provides opportunities for peer modeling and observation of social behaviors.