F1-E: Awkward but Fun: Facilitating Pre-teen and Teen Social Learning Groups

UF-Gainesville CARD offers social learning groups to pre-teens ages 8-12 and teens ages 13-17. These scheduled groups offer participants the opportunity to practice social skills in a semi-structured setting. For the first half of each group meeting, participants engage in small-group activities that allow them to teach each other important social skills (e.g., personal space, perspective-taking, compromise). Additionally, participants engage in role-play and collaborative problem-solving activities that address common social errors. During the second half of each group meeting, participants engage in facilitated game play (e.g., board games, card games, team sports). Participants are encouraged to build relationships outside of group meetings. Community partners (e.g., zoo, library, university, yoga) are recruited to provide unique experiences to the participants. Presenters will share their experience in creating and facilitating these groups. They will also share feedback in the form of parent testimonials, Likert Scale ratings, and “movie-style” reviews from participants.

Speakers