Each school holidays Melbourne Child Development offers a variety of programs for children to work on social interaction skills and communication goals in a unique one-on-one or small group environment with the specialised guidance of our Speech Pathologists, Occupational Therapists and Psychologist. The Programs are designed to be fun, while helping your child to improve their communication and develop important social interaction skills typical of everyday playground and classroom interactions.
Please read carefully as there are some changes to the way our programs are run.
Your child will be involved in various activities and games, all of which are designed to increase social communication (whether that be verbal or non-verbal communication). These aim to improve turn-taking, form new relationships, increase positive interactions and use appropriate language. The sessions are long enough for your child to truly interact with the group which is guided by the knowledge and expertise of a Speech Pathologist, Occupational Therapist, or Psychologist.
Activities in the social skills groups aim to increase the student’s understanding of other people’s thoughts and choices in relation to social situations. They also aim to provide strategies to improve regulation and how to respond to different circumstances. We draw on evidence-based intervention from the following programs:
The four programs that we offer are Making Playmates, Building Buddies, Hanging Out and SAS Cadet Mission Recharge. Once we have received all registrations and the pre-program assessments have been completed our team of clinicians work together to match children into suitable groups. We are then able to individualise the programs to suit the goals of the participants, to ensure each child benefits from the program.
Suitable for: 3-5 year olds
Introduction to foundational social thinking and behaviour skills drawing on the ‘We Thinkers’ social thinking program.
Topics covered: Thinking thoughts and feeling feelings, Group Plan, Whole body Listening. This includes opportunities to put these ideas and further extension of the topics into practice in naturalistic play settings.
Suitable for: 5-7 year olds
Follow on from Making Playmates, building on foundational social thinking and behaviour skills, drawing on the ‘We Thinkers’ social thinking program.
Topics Covered: Hidden rules, Expected and unexpected behaviours, Size of the problem, Flexible and stuck thinking. This includes opportunities to put these ideas and further extension of the topics into practice in naturalistic play settings.
Suitable for: 7 – 11 year olds
Drawing on concepts from the evidence-based ‘Social Communication Intervention Program’ to promote pragmatic language skills in middle to upper primary school aged children.
Topics Covered: Comprehension Monitoring, Understanding Social Context, Emotions in Context. This includes opportunities to put these ideas and further extension of the topics into practice in naturalistic play settings.
Suitable for: 9 – 15 year olds
Cadets who have already completed the Secret Agent Society Program within the last two years and want to top-up their toolkit.
Topics covered: Revision of SAS relaxation gadgets and Codes, SAS computer game, SAS board game. This includes opportunities to put these ideas and further extension of the topics into practice in naturalistic game and group communication settings.
If your child is new to Melbourne Child Development or hasn’t accessed our services in the last 18 months, we complete a pre-program assessment to allow the clinician to gain an in-depth understanding of your child’s needs and how best to tailor the program to your child’s goals. Once we have received your Registration form and Administration fee payment, we will contact you to arrange this assessment.
*Should Melbourne Child Development be unable to offer you a place in the School Holiday Social Skills Program, any administration fee paid will be refunded. Please note that as the administration fee is allocated towards the therapy, it is separate from the Pre-Program Assessment payment which is not refundable.
Please add your child’s details below if you would like to be contacted once registrations for the upcoming School Holiday Program are open.