Services

SOCIAL COGNITION

Social Cognition is an intuitive, complex, highly dynamic process that takes place when people interact or simply occupy a common space and reflexively consider and understand the perspectives, emotions, and intentions of others. People with challenges or deficits in this process struggle with being aware of, interpreting and responding appropriately to these components of social interaction. It can impact reading comprehension and writing among other academic areas. Our practice helps individuals develop and build skills and strategies that improve social cognition and communication, so as to positively impact relationships, school, and employment.

EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING

Executive functioning skills are processes that are necessary for the cognitive control of behavior that facilitates the attainment of chosen goals. These processes include flexible thinking, problem-solving, working memory, planning/prioritizing, stress tolerance, sustained attention, impulse and emotional control, self-monitoring and others. People with challenges or deficits in executive function skills struggle with social functioning and self-esteem, as well as many aspects of learning, such as completing tasks, prioritizing, and shifting focus when required. These impairments can lead to impulsive, hyperactive, disorganized behavior and/or emotional problems including depression, anxiety or hyperemotionality. Our practice teaches individuals inner-directed self-talk strategies that order emotions and thoughts more effectively and helps promote behavior that is independent, purposeful and flexible.

PRAGMATIC LANGUAGE

Pragmatic language is social language—the language people use daily in interactions with others. It involves using language for different purposes (e.g., to persuade, request, inform, reject, compliment), changing language in response to the needs of a listener or situation and following the rules of conversation and storytelling. People with challenges or deficits in pragmatic language struggle with adapting language to different listeners, veering off-topic or monopolizing conversations which can compound nonverbal social limitations and negatively affect academic progress or obtaining and keeping a job. Our practice teaches pragmatic and conversational language skills that improve individuals’ ability to interact with others in a variety of settings through the appropriate use of language and paralinguistic aspects of communication (e.g., tone of voice) in social situations, which helps to reduce anxiety and promote and deepen social connections.