LIU Posts Starts New Social Skills Group for Children

Long Island University Post’s Ladge Speech and Hearing Center recently unveiled a new program aimed at engaging children in positive social behaviors.

The program, which strives to engage positive social behavior from within a small group setting, was founded by Clinical Supervisor Linda Gelbs, Master of Arts who holds a certificate of clinical competence in speech language pathology, alongside Clinical Director Dr. Joyce Rubenstein. It is called PLANS, an acronym for pragmatic language afternoon support.

The PLANS program targets an audience of school-age students with a social language impairment, and looks to guide these children through age and ability appropriate activities. It functions as a social skills group and teaches practices such as taking turns, asking others appropriate questions, making proper comments on situations and correctly participating in conversations.

Each group meets weekly, and is capped at five participants to create an environment that stimulates success in group as well as individual goals. Run under the direction of a licensed speech language pathologist, every client is given one on one time with a graduate student clinician who works to facilitate the use of pragmatic language.

“The program is currently structured toward kindergarteners,” said Gelbs. “However, its model can easily be applied to suit individuals struggling with a social language impairment from any age group.”

Clients also have the opportunity to eat dinner together, during which time the clinicians provide conversation topics and model age-appropriate demeanor.

For the graduate student clinicians, the opportunity for involvement with the program stemmed from research on pragmatic language and therapy with the clients who would later register for the program.

“It was interesting to see how each child presented with different strengths and weaknesses, and responded to situations in their own way,” said graduate student clinician Donna Psomopolous. “Through PLANS, I have found that socialization is such an important part of childhood. I hope that the strategies and models that clinicians provide for each child will benefit them in their interactions outside of the therapy room.”

The behind-the-scenes work for PLANS extends far beyond the weekly meetings. Throughout the week, graduate clinicians work alongside their supervisors in order to plan for sessions and ensure that activities are properly geared toward eliciting the desired responses.

During the sessions, clients are rewarded with PLANS dollars for demonstrating appropriate pragmatic skills in order to incentivize achieving goals. At the end of each meeting, these dollars can be exchanged for a prize from the PLANS store.

“We are striving to provide a safe and fun learning environment for children to interact with their peers and develop appropriate pragmatic skills,” said Psomopolous.

For more information on the program, and for client registration inquiries, contact Clinical Director Dr. Joyce Rubenstein of the Ladge Speech and Hearing Center at (516) 299-2437 or joyce.rubenstein@liu.edu.