It’s playtime! One of the best ways to learn is in a group setting and we provide options to fit the needs and interests of as many kids as we can. Read below to learn about our offered classes.
Winter/Spring group registration will open January 2nd, 2025. Groups will start week of January 27th and end the week of April 11th.
No groups week of DCSD Spring Break March 17th-21st
Call our office or e-mail intake@strakatherapies.com to learn more about Social Groups.
Preschool Playskills ™
|| Ages Older 2-year-olds to Older 3 || Thursdays 9-9:45 AM
The Preschool Playskills™ group is a therapeutic approach to social development, run by licensed speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists. It is designed to develop play skills while eliciting age-appropriate language through natural opportunities for social interactions. Children will be engaged in a variety of adult and child-directed activities in order to develop skills for preschool like: joint attention, circle-time, waiting, turn-taking, sharing, and pairing language with nonverbal social skills, as well as activities with a focus on fine and gross motor skills, and sensory processing development.
Lunch Bunch™
|| Ages 4-5 || Fridays 12:30-1:15 PM
The Lunch Bunch Social Skills Group™ focuses on building social relationships with children who have just started or are about to enter school. This group is appropriate for children who are able to carry on brief back and forth conversation, run by licensed speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists. There will be a focus on improving attention to peers, good listening skills, turn-taking, social language, and strategies for building friendships, as well as activities with a focus on fine and gross motor skills and sensory processing development, all during lunch time!
Snack + Speak ™
|| Ages 5½ to 6½ || Available in the Summer
The Snack + Speak™ social skills group focuses on building social relationships with children who just started or are about to enter school. This group is appropriate for children who are able to carry on conversation by asking and answering questions, run by licensed speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists. There will be a focus on improving attention to peers, good listening skills, turn-taking, social language, and strategies for building friendships, as well as activities with a focus on fine and gross motor skills, and sensory processing development, all during snack time!
Social Power ™
|| School Age (7-9 years old) || Wednesdays 4:00-4:45 PM
|| Tweens (10-12 years old) || Wednesdays 4:45-5:30 PM
The Social Power™ social skills groups will focus on ways to break down, discuss and implement abstract social concepts with middle-school and high-school students, run by licensed speech-language pathologists and occupational therapists, and utilizing the Michelle Garcia Winner Social Thinking curriculum. Lessons are organized into categories that include friendship, perspective taking, self-monitoring, being part of a group, effective communication, making plans to be with others, problem-solving, and more, as well as activities with a focus on fine and gross motor skills, and sensory processing development. Practical life skills will be addressed through monthly field trips into the community.
Mind-Body Connections™
|| Ages 9-12 || Available in Summer
The Mind-Body Connections™ Group uses the Interoception Curriculum to provide an evidence-based, step-by-step framework for helping various learners discover more about their own unique body-emotion-action connections. Because interoception helps us to be clear on how our body feels, it becomes a vital aspect of successfully regulating our body needs and emotions and, in turn, participating meaningfully in a variety of occupations in daily life.
Special Olympics Young Athletes Motor Skills™
|| Ages 3-5 || Available in Summer
Join us for a fun introduction to basic sport skills, balance, coordination, and motor movement facilitated by our Occupational Therapy practitioners. This program will utilize components of the Special Olympics Young Athletes Program to provide children with activities, games and therapeutic exercises to meet their individual skill and ability levels in a fun play-based inclusive environment.
Handwriting Club™
|| Ages 4-5 || Available in Summer
Handwriting Club™ is divided into groups designed to match specific skill and age levels. A small group size and interactive indoor gym promotes a positive approach to learning an often difficult and challenging skill. Our certified occupational therapists will incorporate multi-sensory strategies and whole brain learning – featuring the Handwriting without Tears program.
Fun With Fluency ™
|| School Age & Tweens || Call To Schedule
The Fun with Fluency™ is a stuttering support group that integrates peer support, discussion, fluency technique practice and desensitization activities to help build strong communication skills, all while having fun! Fun with Fluency combines indirect and direct therapies and integrates fluency shaping with stuttering modification, as needed.
Floortime Fun™
|| Ages 6 months to 12 months || Thursdays 11-11:45Am
Floor Time Fun focuses on teaching parents hands on strategies to increase purposeful movements, interaction with toys and family, and mobility skills to allow exploration of their environment. This group is appropriate for babies who don't have a strong desire to move around and who seem behind in their motor milestones (rolling, sitting, crawling, and pulling into standing). Our licensed physical therapist will assess for any tightness or weakness that is preventing babies from exploring and hitting their milestones, and provide parent-friendly exercises that address the deficits. There will be a focus on teaching appropriate handling skills, ensuring that parents feel confident with all skills, and allowing parents to ask questions regarding their babies' development.