Social Skills

Hampton Bays Summer Friendship Program

Sagit Vishnia, PsyD, who has been providing outpatient psychotherapy services at the Cody Center's Hampton Bays location, will be running Summer Friendship Groups for children with Autism and related disorders between the ages of 6 and 16. The groups will take place on Thursday mornings and/or early afternoons during the summer (July 3, 10, 17 and August 7, 14, 21 and 28). Interested parents must complete a Social Skills application and return it to Dr. Vishnia by fax to 631-632-3785.  Please email all program questions to Dr. Vishnia.

 

Social Skills Training

Ages 6 through 16
(631) 632-8983

For services for adolescents and young adults ages 17 and over, please phone 631-632-3070 for information about the groups for adults facilitated by Dr. Peter Wigg available at the Cody Center. 

We run groups for children between the ages of 6 - 16, contingent upon compatible group mates (by age, language level and social/emotional issues). New applications are considered on an ongoing basis and new groups form throughout the year. To be eligible the children must have defined social issues and have the ability to cope with group situations without significant behavioral difficulties.  Social skills training is comprised of seven-week modules. Each module consists of six weekly groups and a parent group on the seventh week, and each session is 50 minutes in length. Groups have 4 - 6 members and are run by experienced Cody Center staff who have extensive background working with children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

Groups follow a structured format addressing specific goals identified for the group members, such as paying attention to others, holding a conversation, accepting others' agenda, understanding compromise and turn taking. In addition, modules are often structured with theme-based lessons. Some examples are:

• The concept of friendship
• Going to a birthday party
• Coping with conflict
• Puberty
• Teasing and Bullying

Parents' participation and training are an integral component of the Social Skills Program. Weekly homework assignments for you and your child are assigned based on the skills that are introduced in the weekly session. Parent feedback and training are also completed on the seventh week, following the completion of each module.