The Social Skills Training Program is effective in increasing self-esteem and social activity levels. ¨Social skills training" is a general term for instruction conducted in behavioral areas that promotes more productive, and positive interaction with others.

Role-plays and group interaction will give the children opportunities to practice these skills during the group session.

This Social Skill Program is supported by a Yoga Instructor. Combining games, music and conscious moves, children will enjoy all of the benefits Yoga has to offer. Varying from poses, breathing techniques and guided visualizations this support to the social skill group is designed to suit every child's needs. Utilizing cooperative activities, metaphors and challenging postures, children will learn to focus and increase their self-esteem by recognizing their own capacity and strength.

Planning your vacations with a child with ADHD

By Valeria Vilar, MA, BEd, LMHC

We all look forward with great eagerness to our family vacation. Some families plan trips to new destinations, others choose a quiet destination to relax, or end up choosing to visit their family or home country.

This eagerness associated to vacation time is generally linked to the desire of having a great time and storing happy memories of the time spent with the loved ones forever.

We all know that every new situation, regardless of how pleasant, generates stress both in adults and children. This is especially true for children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

I have often heard my patients or friends talking about their vacations with a hint of disappointment. Some said that their children had behaved worse than they usually do during the year. For instance, they complained about their children being much more anxious, annoying other members of the family, consistently disobeying, being disrespectful to their parents, being rude, etc.  

These behaviors caused conflicts, arguments and unpleasant situations among parents and siblings, and of course, generated a great deal of frustration and disappointment.

I thought it would be useful to draw on these experiences to give you a couple of tips that would help prevent this kind of situations.

• Let your child know about the type of trip you are planning. It is not a good idea to surprise your child with the trip without having given him or her time to elaborate on it in advance. Mark the date of the trip on a calendar and daily check with your child the number of days left before the trip. Show your child the place you will be visiting on a map. Talk to him or her about the people you will meet, what the weather will be like there, the activities you are planning on doing, etc. In this way, you and your child can create a guidebook with drawings and pictures. This will make your child feel at ease since he won’t be dealing with surprises.