Friendship Camp

The Friendship Camp is geared towards elementary school children in grades 1st – 4th with the goal of helping children developing quality friendships based on the Children’s Friendship Training protocol.  The protocol defines quality friendships as “a mutual relationship formed with affection and commitment between two individuals who consider themselves as equals.”
The friendship training provided is evidence-based and is derived from developmental research on how socially successful children build and maintain friendships. Parental participation is an integral part of this program. Parents will undergo training at the same time as their child, although the structure of each training program will differ in style. Parent and child commitment to the complete training program is a prerequisite to entry to the program.

The sessions will be held at our clinic office. The program is a 12-week program, with each meeting to last 1.5 hours.  If your student’s teacher is interested in participating, please let us know. Training sessions will be opened up to teachers.

The sessions will be held each Tuesday evening, from 5:30-6:30 pm. Each class will have no more than 8 students, with 2-3 therapists to guide the training sessions. The students will be given a lesson and will then apply the skills during games. The parents will work with the BCBA to learn the skill acquisition material, review the previous weeks’ progress, and to strategize for the coming week.

Topics to be covered include:
Topics of Conversations
Places and Times to Make Friends
Two-way Conversations
Joining a Conversation
Level of Disclosure
Being Turned Down
Rules of Good Sport
Rules of a Good Winner
Making Fun of the Tease
“Unjust” Adult actions
Ways to Stay Out of a Fight

For more information about participating in the Friendship Camp, please email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 512.732.8400 to schedule an intake appointment.