Strides Autism Services
Fall Enrollment 2023

This group-based program will provide participants with opportunities to learn skills needed to engage with peers and participate in group activities. We will use ABA strategies to teach early communication skills, social skills and play skills. These skills are contrived and taught within group activities.

Skills taught can include:

• Early social responding and initiation e.g., returns greetings, approaches others
• Early leisure activities and social play e.g., engages in parallel play, requests from peers
• Group learning skills e.g., participate in structured group activities, transitions between group activities.

This group-based program will provide participants with opportunities to learn skills needed to engage with peers and participate in group activities. We will use ABA strategies to teach advanced communication and social skills. These skills are taught within group activities using simple instructions, modeling, practice and feedback.

Skills taught can include:

• Social play and cooperation e.g., follows complex instructions, gives explanation how to do something
• Early conversation skills e.g., joins a conversation, takes turns in a conversation

• Age group: 10 – 12 years old
• Location: Strides Toronto Milner Location
  325 Milner Avenue, Scarborough M1B 5N1
• Day/Time: Saturdays, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
• Duration: 20 Weeks; Meeting one time per week for two hours
• Start date: Saturday, September 16, 2023
• End date: Saturday, February 3, 2024
  *Service closure from December 25 – 29, 2023
• Please contact us at autism@stridestoronto.ca to see if you are eligible and for more information including pricing.

The primary focus of this Conversations Group will be to address the development of skills related to engaging in complex conversation skills.

The group will target 3 modules:

1. Non-vocal skills: Understanding and use of appropriate non-vocal (non-verbal) skills for conversations, including eye contact/gaze checks, volume, tone of voice, rate of speaking, facial expressions, personal space, and body language/gestures.
2. Complex conversations: Development and refinement of complex conversation skills needed for initiating a conversation, taking turns, maintaining a conversation, and ending a conversation (e.g., greetings, asking and answering questions, new comments, supporting comments, staying on topic). 
3. Manners in conversations: Understanding and use of appropriate manners in conversation, including topic shift, interruption, and disagreement.

• Age group: 13 – 15 years old
• Location: Strides Toronto Eglinton Location
  2206 Eglinton Ave E Suite 146, Scarborough M1L 4S7
• Day/Time: Fridays, 3:30 PM – 5:30 PM
• Duration: 20 Weeks; Meeting one time per week for two hours
• Start date: Friday, September 15, 2023
• End date: Friday, February 2, 2024
  *Service closure from December 25 – 29, 2023
• Please contact us at autism@stridestoronto.ca to see if you are eligible and for more information including pricing.

AIM stands for Accept Identify Move and is an evidence-based curriculum that teaches social emotional skills and cognitive flexibility by blending together concepts of Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Applied Behaviour Analysis.

The goal of this programming is to provide tools to help accept and diffuse difficult thoughts and work identifying values to help learners make meaningful behavior changes towards those values.

• Age group: 13 – 15 years old
• Location: Strides Toronto Milner Location
  325 Milner Avenue, Scarborough M1B 5N1
• Day/Time: Saturdays, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
• Duration: 14 Weeks; Meeting one time per week for 2 hours
• Start date: Saturday, September 16, 2023
• End date: Saturday, December 23, 2023
  *Service closure on October 7, 2023
• Pricing: Please contact us at autism@stridestoronto.ca to see if you are eligible and for more information including pricing.

PEERS (Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relational Skills) is a social skills program that teaches middle and high-school students how to make and keep friends. PEERS is an evidence-based social skills intervention for adolescents and young adults who are motivated to make and keep friends, that has resulted in significant gains in knowledge and use of social skills.

Group topics include:

• How to use appropriate conversational skills
• How to find common interests by trading information
• How to appropriately use humour
• How to enter and exit conversations between peers
• How to handle rejection, teasing, and bullying
• How to handle rumours and gossip
• How to be a good host during get-togethers
• How to make phone calls to friends
• How to choose appropriate friends
• How to be a good sport
• How to handle arguments and disagreements
• How to change a bad reputation