4 Tips on Setting Up Your Space for Social Group

1. Prepare before your kids arrive!

-- Nothing is worse than trying to get activities set up while kids are running around, so it’s a great idea to get all of your activities and materials ready before they get there. You don’t want to be running to the printer to get worksheets and get flooded with requests for dinosaur coloring sheets. This goes for scheduling too; a good schedule is important for a really good play group. Autism spectrum kids often have difficulty transitioning from highly-preferred activity to a less-preferred activity, like free play to social skill lessons, so arrange your schedule in a way that will make that an easier transition. A good way to do that is have some sort of neutral activity prepared for when the group arrives, something between highly-preferred and non-preferred that can work as a transition activity.

At the end of a group session we make sure to line up our clipboards in one place so we don't have to worry about tracking them down the next morning.

2. Make your space safe.

-- A lot of this is just common sense stuff that may get overlooked in the rush of setting up activities and getting data sheets ready and getting in that first (of many) cup of coffee. Make sure all of the electric plugs are covered and that those plugs aren’t easy to pull out. All sharp things like scissors should be put out of reach from little (or not so little, there are some pretty tall 10 year olds) hands, and be sure to supervise closely whenever they’re in use. If your play space has columns or sharp corners, it’s a good idea to cover them. In our group play space, we have large square columns in the middle of the room, which we’ve covered with thick, fuzzy carpet from target. They look cool, and they make the room that much safer. Additionally, be aware of any allergies or intolerances your kids may have; you wouldn’t want a kid with a peanut allergy sitting next to someone who’s preferred food is peanut butter.

Covering the pillars with carpet makes them both way more fun than
normal pillars and much safer.

3. Know your group.

-- Part of making your space safe is knowing your kids’ behaviors. Will there be kids there who elope (physically run away from activities)? Then it’s a good idea to have an adult near the door to catch and redirect kids who make a break for it. Balloon popping activities aren’t great for kids who are averse to loud, sudden noises. If there are kids there who don’t read or have an easier time looking at pictures, consider a visual schedule and labelling things like the toilet, sink, and individual rooms like craft room, kitchen, and classroom with written and pictorial labels. If some of your kids are likely to have tantrums or have destructive behaviors, consider a cool-down room or hallway where they can go and calm down before rejoining the group to avoid a snowballing of tantrums across the group.

Barry could definitely use a cool down room. 

4. Have fun!

-- Social group should be fun for the adults and the kids. Yes, it’s going to be work for the adults as you take data, watch the kids, and foster social skill development, but it’s also work for the kids as they interact, learn, and grow. For a lot of Autism Spectrum kids, interaction takes conscious work and effort. Make sure that they’re having fun while they’re learning. It’s kind of like Mary Poppins; a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, so if the group wants to listen to Let It Go even though you’re 80% you’ll explode if you hear it one more time, go ahead and let them listen to it. If the group wants to listen to Let It Go for the 11^th time in a row, maybe it’s time to switch to that neutral activity before you actually do explode. In every job that must be done, there’s an element of fun, and that fun is going to help those social skills the kids are developing stick.