by Bonnie Eissner
The need for friends—or at least
peers who accept you—is a near universal human trait. Even adolescents with
autism spectrum disorder, who struggle to communicate and socialize, feel this
urge and can be transformed when they satisfy it. Helping them do so is the
primary goal of Adelphi University’s Social
Training Center.
The center, which is an integral
part of the school psychology master’s program at Adelphi’s Gordon F. Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies,
offers low-cost weekly social groups for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.
The groups are small—between three and six participants—and arranged to
maximize compatibility among the participants and the clinicians who lead them.
Each group is led by a graduate of Adelphi’s school psychology master’s program—either
Ehrin McHenry, M.A. ’11, or Stephanie Bezalel, M.A. ’12 (both of whom are
certified school psychologists), and one or two carefully selected school
psychology master’s students, who gain valuable clinical training from their
involvement.
Supervised social groups for youth
with autism spectrum disorder have become fairly common, especially as autism
diagnoses have mushroomed in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder in children born in the
United States more than doubled from 1 in 150 among those born in 1992 to 1 in
68 among those born in 2002.
Adelphi’s Social Training Center
distinguishes itself in its highly compassionate and thorough approach. Ionas
Sapountzis, Ph.D., a Derner Institute associate professor and
director of the school psychology master’s program who also runs the Social
Training Center, pointed out the nuances that set the center apart.
For one, group leaders go out of
their way to make the members feel welcome and to foster connections. Tolerance
and acceptance are at the core of the ethos.
“These young people come in with
several stereotypical behaviors and we try not to criticize them or correct
them,” Dr. Sapountzis said. Group leader Ehrin McHenry, M.A. ‘11, added, “We
don’t reprimand, we address.” That might mean taking a member aside at the end
of a session to discuss an issue privately rather than comment on it in front
of peers.
Further, the Social Training Center
deviates from the norm in encouraging members to get together outside of
sessions. Leaders facilitate informal gatherings, such as grabbing pizza or
catching a movie, among some or all of the group members. Dr. Sapountzis and
his team see that these more impromptu interactions enhance social skills and
can foster friendships.
Feedback is also important. Once a
month, each member meets with a group leader to receive personalized feedback
on his performance in the group. The meetings are short—about 10 minutes—but
can be highly effective as evidenced in cases that are reviewed at weekly
supervision meetings.
Every week, the group leaders gather
with Dr. Sapountzis to review cases and receive feedback. They also discuss how
they can apply the qualitative data that they are gathering on student outcomes
toward larger research initiatives. The school psychology graduate
students who volunteer at the Social Training Center said that the
collaborative approach and the chance to discuss and carefully consider each
client’s needs set this field experience apart from others.
At a supervision meeting this past
October, the clinicians devoted more than 25 minutes to discussing the progress
they had seen in one group member who, in less than a year, had transformed
from a well-defensed machine only interested in teaching other group members
algorithms to someone who came to each session with stories and jokes to share
with not only the leaders but the members as well.
Alexandra Cami, a school psychology
master’s student who co-led the group and presented the case, observed that the
change in the member was evident not only in the group, but also at his high
school, where she was fulfilling her practicum requirement and, as a result,
was able to observe him.
She described how the support of
teachers and specialists in the school buoyed him and helped him accept his
diagnosis and its related strengths and challenges. She also discussed his
successful transition to community college and a job. Yet, when Dr. Sapountzis
asked her about the specific role of the Social Training Center, she said, “He
doesn’t have friends in school. The first time he probably ever hung out with
someone was from the Social Training Center.”
