STARS

Call today at 732-761-8400 for more information on the STARS book or to enroll in the next group session

TEAM APPROACH:

This is the perfect tool to bring three disciplines of OT-PT and ST together in the classroom with the teachers and teacher's aides.  This multi-sensory approach to providing a socially interactive environment for children to flourish in will revolutionize how the team model in school systems is carried out.  This protocol allows for all these educators to COTX the entire classroom while meeting all of their individual and group mandated goals from the I.E.P.  YES it meets all the requirements while providing the children with a fun activity to complete as it builds their social skills.  Each activity is set up to address three Potential AREAS OF GAIN; Sensorimotor, Social/Behavioral, and Academic.  We listed these specific target areas at the beginning of each group activity.

CREATED BY THERAPIST FOR THERAPIST:

We know how valuable time is.  So we pre-made all the progress notes for each group activity.  A description of the activity along with what POTENTIAL AREAS OF GAIN are being addressed.  A simple coding system on the note form was created to lesson the need for lengthy written summaries, but a "comments" area is also provided for those days when you really want to highlight a great accomplishment for the child!  Download sample below.

Lynn, Kerry, and Jaime had the unique and inspiring opportunity to team up and create this wonderful protocol for a social skills group. After working together for years and hearing repeatedly that social skills groups in their area were not meeting the needs of the kids on their caseload they finally acted. Sitting and working for months on developing what has become STARS.

What you will find in this protocol:

First, a 15 minute warm up. This is so necessary and often a missing component for our kids with special needs. In individual sessions this is always incorporated, so we knew it had to be the basis for our group work as well. We developed seasonally based warm ups to help with regulation and to provide a consistent start to group sessions. With structure and routine often a necessary element for our kids the warm up provides that consistency while regulating the sensory system and bringing the children to optimal functioning levels.
Second, 90 functional and interactive activities to be completed together as a group. We put the kids into situations wherein they must help or be helped by a fellow group participant; their friend. Some activities have the kids pairing up to work together to accomplish a task while racing against the other two member teams (fishing game). Yet others have the whole group working together to attain a goal (pirate treasure hunt). Either way the activities all have a common component; Communication, Cooperation, and Competition, The Three C's!!! Utilizing the 3 C's along with constant sensory regulation a dynamic was created that allowed social interaction to blossom!
Third, WINITS - What I Need In Ten Sensory, this is the 10 minute movement break incorporated into every group activity. It is a mini version of the 15 minute sensory warm up and allows us the chance to bring the kids back to optimal functioning levels to finish out the group task.