Why Run a Group?

Many people believe that social behaviour should be taught in groups rather than in a one-to-one situation. 

The advantages of group therapy over one-to-one may include:

• greater peer interaction and generalisation of skills
• increased observational learning, as children can offer additional models, reinforcement and feedback
• increased opportunity to generate ideas in problem-solving, and to set up role plays and simulation games
• opportunity for children to try out new skills in a safe environment
• peer group pressure can motivate individuals
• a more relaxed and comfortable environment in which to learn new skills
• and opportunity to transfer skills to other staff, thus improving the chance of carryover into the children’s everyday environment.

Performance within a group

However, there are a few things to be aware of that will affect the performance of individual children within your group: 

Being in the presence of others…
… may increase a child’s motivation but it may also have a socially-inhibiting effect.  The presence of others can increase feelings of tension and excitement, which has the effect of increasing motivation and performance.  On the other hand, the level of anxiety caused by ‘performing’ in front of others can have an opposite effect and can stop a child performing at all.  So watch out for the level of tension within the room and watch out for signs that a child is not performing due to this.

High task attractiveness…
… will mean that children will want to participate and perform because they understand why they are doing something and they want to do it.  Where this is not the case, a child may choose not to participate and will let the others do the work. 

Group cohesiveness…
… will always help with performance.  Children are much more likely to learn and perform if the group has gelled.  Things that can help with cohesion are: interpersonal attraction and success in completing tasks.

The life cycle of the group…
… will mean that learning will not really occur until the group has gone through the formative phase, where the group is establishing itself and children are finding a role within that group, and entered the established phase.  In this phase, the group has gelled and they know what is expected of them and they are therefore ready to learn.

Receiving feedback within the group…
… is one of the advantages of the group as children can get information about the impact of their behaviours on others which is not ordinarily available to them.  However, you obviously need to ensure that all feedback is given in a constructive way. When giving feedback to children, it is always a good idea to try to use the sandwich approach: something good, something bad, then something good.

Setting up a group

There are a few things to consider when setting up your group:

• who is going to be in the group?
• how big is the group going to be?
• who’s going to run it with you?
• what are you going to do?
• where are you going to do it?

Who is going to be in the group?

This is usually the first question and the general rule is the more homogenous the group the better.  So if you can match children for communicative strength and need, diagnosis, likes and dislikes, age and sex, then the chances are your group will gel quickly and be a huge success!  Of course, in the real world, there are always compromises to be made.  It is obviously important that the children are matched for social skills and then after that, the more homogenous the better.  Group membership should also ideally be closed, although it is sometimes necessary for children to drop out of groups either for practical or therapeutic reasons.

How big should the group be?

The size of the group will depend on the age and ability of the children but is usually four to eight not including the group leaders.  It is important to remember that some children find it difficult to communicate in larger groups, but it is important to have enough people within a group to make role plays and group discussions feasible and interesting.

Who’s going to run it?

Social skills groups definitely run better with two leaders, especially as there is often a need to model behaviours, work video cameras and facilitate group discussions.  The co-facilitator should ideally be someone from the children’s everyday environment and a good working relationship between the group leaders is often the key to a successful group.

What are we going to do?

Setting realistic goals should be straightforward following assessment, using the hierarchical approach described in a previous issue.  Defining your goals and using a structured set of activities will also help gel the group and give you something with which to evaluate success. 

Where are we going to do it?

Sometimes getting a room to run a group in can be a huge problem within some settings.  It is important to have a room that is large enough for the size and purpose of the group, that has as much natural light as possible and is physically comfortable - for example, warm and quiet. It is also important to remember that children will not feel comfortable in a room where other people are coming in and out or where they may be observed by others in their school.  It is also useful to have a means of displaying materials or writing up information - for example, a flip chart, wipe board or blackboard.

Finally, it may be sensible to draw up a contract with a head teacher or an equivalent person to include: how long the group will run and who will be in the group; on what day the group will run and the time it will start and finish; staff who will support the group and what will happen in the event of staff shortages; the aims of the group; and how the group will be evaluated.

In the next issue we will consider the actual running of the group. 

Alex Kelly
Speech & language therapist and social skills consultant www.alexkelly.biz

Alex Kelly is the author of Speechmark's best selling Talkabout series.