And, finally, the End of the Semster for the Social Skills Playgroup
Although “Friendship Group” is a social skills group, they had an additional Social Skill playgroup that he was able to participate in this year. It took place about 15 minutes after one of the Friendship group times, but was a bit bigger. We got to see some other kids we have made friends with over the years that weren’t in his current FG, and that was neat.
He got a kick out of Twister
The helpers are wearing their kid’s schedule around their necks to help with transitions (and probably to avoid the glut of kids checking their schedules on a wall someplace). Zane isn’t as dependent on a schedule as he used to be, but in a group this big it really helps him cope.
This group is a lot more challenging for him and he would have never been able to participate in it in previous years, just because of the amount of people, the more chaotic (not bad chaos, just the natural “get a bunch of kids in the same room” chaos) environment, and the sheer amount of activity. He was able to focus and complete instructions successfully. He is getting closer to being able to handle a classroom situation, but at this point it would take a lot of anxiety meds on board if he had to do it routinely. Doing it in a more controlled environment goes a long ways towards teaching him how to manage himself in this type of setting. (the project he is working on is decorating t-shirts for the staff & helpers)
I am glad I get another semester to get a better picture of him with his student ST (well, mostly I am glad we get another semester with the ST in general). Sadly, this was the closest to “looking at the camera” + “pleasant facial expression” in the group of pictures I took. 
