What is:
P.O.P. TM
PERSONAL OPTIONS AND PREFERENCES TM
P.O.P.TM is the invention of two dedicated Occupational therapists who really want kids to be able to enjoy their childhood!
P.O.P.TM can be designed for typical children as well as those experiencing mild to severe challenges. This program can be adapted to work with various developmental issues including Autism, physical impairments, learning disabilities, emotional issues, ADHD, ADD, Fragile X, and others.
Today, many children seem to be lacking in the basic social skills that kids previously picked up in the course of school/play/home environments.
Why? We are not sure, but we do know that kids are in more "structured play", rather than "free form play" that previous generations experienced. The Internet has changed communication. Children now have "chat rooms" instead of backyards. The consequence of not liking what is said is now to merely "click off", instead of coping and modifying behaviors. Family dinners, once an arena for learning manners and sharing conversation is reportedly close to non-existent. Bullying, something that we all had to cope with at one point or another appears to be on the increase, making school a dangerous place; at times both emotionally and physically.
So, both as parents and therapists, we designed a social skills program that is easy to implement, and has proven itself over the past 5 years to be something that parents can learn from as well.
This is not psychotherapy. It will not address deep rooted emotional disorders. It will not fix or change a psychological diagnosis.
It will, however, give children more response options in their social/emotional "bag of tricks". It will make navigating the schoolroom, recess and the neighborhood easier. It has proven itself to teach children to be assertive without being aggressive, to look people in the eye and not be afraid, to not only "listen" but to "hear", to accept and learn from criticism, to make new friends, to increase their self-esteem and to learn to temper what others "think and say" with how they see themselves.
We call it a "Friends Club with an Educational Focus". We invite you to join our club!
If you can check off any of the concerns below, PLEASE
Call Susan for more information!
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Not many and/or few friends
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Often plays on the “fringes" of the group
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Hesitant to interact with others
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Excessively shy
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Complains, “someone hit” him/her
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Seems not to be able to control aggressive feelings
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Problems when it is time to “line up”
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Difficulty with co-operative tasks
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Difficulty with “personal space”
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Poor verbal expression of thoughts, ideas and feelings
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Multiple complaints of feeling “sick”
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in addition to learning how to handle the issues above, your child will also learn how to:
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Increase in-hand manipulation abilities (this helps with handwriting!)
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Increase sequencing skills
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Increase sequential memory (steps to the trick)
Susan Orloff, OTR/L 770-394-9791
