Summer Camp & Social Skills Groups
Pragmatic (Social Skills) Programming for Children Ages 3 to 18.

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Good Times Groups offers intensive social skills training where children gain valuable skills while participating in exciting games and stimulating activities. All lessons are conducted under the guise of more traditional activities such as games, cooperative sports, arts & crafts, sensory integration activities, swimming, science, and drama activities. All lessons are highly structured and designed to encourage participation, build confidence, and make learning fun.

Milestones offers two types of groups: after-school programs during the year (as an adjunct to your child’s day program) and all day summer sessions (which can be your child’s only summer camp program or serve as a 2 to 6 week adjunct to your child’s other summer programming). There are a maximum of 12 children in each group and 4 staff members. Our low 3:1 ratio ensures that every child receives the individual attention necessary to work on his/her unique needs and goals.

Our Good Times curriculum, called Bateson Therapy, is based on Cognitive Behavioral Psychology and the principles of Neuroscience. Bateson Therapy was designed by Alex Michaels and Laurie Smith based upon years of research and clinical experience. The curriculum focuses on breaking down developmental stages of social interaction and executive functioning so children can more easily learn the necessary skills they are missing or have not yet acquired. Many of our students have undergone traditional social skills therapy and learned rote skills, such as, “When a person says hello, I need to say hello back,” but quality social interactions go far beyond rote lessons. It is impossible to teach a child a key phrase to use for every interaction s/he will have in life. At Good Times Groups, children not only learn how to say hello, but also learn how to analyze why someone is saying hello in the first place, multiple responses s/he could use, and how to choose the most appropriate response based upon the person's non-verbal cues. In this sense, our children learn to communicate more naturally and with more inherent understanding and desire. Learning the underpinnings of
complex social interactions is vital to social survival. This is where Milestones’ unique curriculum shines!

Our curriculum runs full circle as children first learn skills, then put the information into practice, and finally teach the information to others. We find by utilizing this full circle approach, students truly understand what they are being taught and therefore are better able to generalize the information.