Chill & Chat

Chill & Chat aims to provide teens with regular, peer-supported, evidence-based social conversation and executive function skill practice within the community.

Point of performance learning.

Hanging out with peers requires having to make split second decisions regarding what’s more important: choice of pizza or following the group plan?

What’s included in the program?

Oversight, instruction, support, and follow up from two speech-language pathologists (Chelsea Betz and Sheila Threndyle).
Neuro-divergent affirming practices and support from all staff.
Trained, supportive peer conversation coaches. One peer coach has a diagnosis of high functioning ASD). Typically the ratio is 1 peer coach to 2 teens.
Opportunities for weekly social-emotional check ins using the Zones of Regulation.
Adherence to provincial COVID 19 safety guidelines (physical distancing where possible and masks, when not possible. We also offer Zoom group sessions).
Welcoming environment for all from our diverse members.

Direct instruction and modelling of social thinking and conversational skills: greetings, situational awareness, small talk, initiation/maintaining/ending conversation, non-verbal communication, purpose of social conversation, social media protocols, use of our social filter, attending to non-preferred topics, use of “social fake” behaviors, conversation drivers/stoppers, topic radar, etc.
Informal determination of teens’ executive function strengths and weaknesses using Smart but Scattered Teen questionnaire.

Direct instruction, discussion and modelling of executive function skill domains whenever possible, in context: emotional control, working memory, impulse control, flexibility, planning/prioritization, goal directed persistence, organization, meta-cognition, task initiation, time management, and sustained attention.
Detailed post session notes to all families, outlining recommendations and their teen’s participation during session.
Mid-week reminder group email of upcoming session and venue.

Our expectations.

No cell phone use during session, unless it is to show group members photos.
Notification within 24 hours of group email, if teen is unable to join us or teen will be charged for session. We need to plan for the appropriate number of peer coaches in advance of the Friday group.

Respectful behavior and language to staff and participants.
Everyone participates to the degree they are able. (We do expect participants to be willing to move slightly out of their comfort zone each session).

Participants are willing to receive feedback from the SLPs and peer coaches.

Tweens Social & Executive Skills Group

Social & Executive Skills Group

Thank you for your interest in Tweens Chill & Chat. My program aims to support neurodiverse youths’ social, emotional, and academic skills through a program combining practice in conversation, executive function skills, and performance-related social factors. I have successfully run teen “Chill & Chat” in North Vancouver for over eight years. It is a community-based, neuro-divergent affirming, social skills group on which the Tween program is based. It is continuing to grow as we receive referrals from high school counsellors, the PEERS program, Psychologists, SLPs, and parents.

Tween Chill & Chat is open to neuro-diverse participants aged 10-12 who may present with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), ADHD, executive function skill weaknesses (self-regulation), anxiety, dyslexia, and auditory working memory deficits. Wednesday, May 1st is my target start date. The group will be limited to six participants.

Participants are welcome to join the Tweens Chill & Chat group if they have received previous social skills intervention or not. Recent evidence indicates that most neuro-diverse youth know about social skills, but they don’t use them because they lack practice in reciprocal conversation skills, social creativity, the ability to predict, and the ability to rapidly process social information (Gates, McNair, et all 2023). Because of this, Tween Chill & Chat focuses on “practice at the point of performance”. (Russell Barkley).

My mission is to give participants conversation, social skills, and executive function skills practice in natural, community-based settings with multiple partners and support. (Executive functions skills enable us to self-regulate and include flexible thinking, working memory, emotional regulation, impulse control, time management, organization, planning, task initiation, and self-monitoring). I focus on developing neuro-divergent youths’ social, self-regulation, and academic skills through an executive function lens.

My evidence-based program will run on Wednesday afternoons from 4:30-5:30 in various community locations-based on participants’ interest. Participants often vote to meet at McDonalds, Boston Pizza, Ernest ice cream, local parks, or John Braithwaite community center. One teen “peer coach” may also frequently join us. I will notify families by email and attached Doodle Poll on Tuesday evenings. You will be encouraged/expected to indicate your child’s ability to join us that week. The email will also contain an outline of that week’s lesson/topic. Parents are encouraged to review the topic with their tween before the session. Following the sessions, I will email parents detailed notes regarding my observations, tweens’ participation information, additional strategies families can practice at home, and suggestions their tweens can implement next time. With parental consent, my notes can also be shared with their child’s school and/or home team.

Prior to acceptance into the Tween Chill & Chat program, I request a meeting with you and your child at a coffee shop in your neighbourhood. During our meeting, tweens and parents are asked to complete a short executive function skill and conversation questionnaire. Responses help reveal the tween’s EF strengths and stretches and nature of their social skills interactions. The initial meeting also provides me with information regarding the youth’s home support team, pragmatic functions, personal interests, sensory challenges, and attention/distraction in a public setting.

As well as teaching and practicing executive function skills in context, participants will receive instruction, practice, and feedback on the following skills:

· Situational awareness (e.g. standing with the group)

· Greeting others

· Deflecting teasing and bullies

· Identifying and using sarcasm

· Matching your partner’s conversational style (neuro-typical or neuro-diverse)

· Initiating and responding to small talk

· Using active listening (looking at speaker, asking questions and making related comments to keep the conversation going)

· Use of reciprocal conversation skills

· Regulating one’s behavior by assessing the size of the problem

· Other skills as the needs arise

My hourly rate of $140.00 includes detailed post session notes and can be invoiced to the Autism Funding Unit.

I may ask you to provide me with a copy of your tween’s ASD and/or psycho-educational assessment reports and their most recent IEP.

The initial “meet and greet” with SLP is $70 per meeting.

If you are interested in learning more about the program and would like to schedule a “meet and greet” please contact me.