Increase independence moving around Thunder Bay. Specific targets will be selected based on participant experience. Program targets could include:
- Navigating sidewalks & intersections
- Planning your route
- Reaching destinations within the city using transit
- Social rules & etiquette for using transit and traveling with members of the public

Join us for an art-based social skills group. While unleashing your creative side, we will focus on increasing conversation skills such as:
- Joining conversations
- Taking turns
- Staying on topic
- When others are bored
- Using a cover story to exit conversations

Calling all 5 & 6 year olds! Practice and boost social skills through Game On!. Relevant social skills will be covered to enhance the social skill toolbox involving playing games with others, focusing on the individual needs of each participant. We will also focus on joining play with peers, following the rules of the game, and being a good sport.

Calling all 7 & 8 year olds! Practice and boost social skills through Game On!. Relevant social skills will be covered to enhance the social skill toolbox involving playing games with others, focusing on the individual needs of each participant. We will also focus on learning to play (the game, if required), following the game rules and appropriately handling situations that occur while playing games.

Practice and boost social skills through Game On!. Relevant social skills will be covered to enhance the social skill toolbox involving playing games with others, focusing on the individual needs of each participant. We will also focus on learning to play (the game, if required), following the game rules and appropriately handling situations that occur while playing games.

Practice and boost social skills through Game On!. Relevant social skills will be covered to enhance the social skill toolbox involving playing games with others, focusing on the individual needs of each participant. We will also focus on learning to play (the game, if required), following the game rules and appropriately handling situations that occur while playing games.

Learn gentle, value-based sleep solutions without "cry-it-out." Our course includes personalized assessments and tailored strategies to improve your child's sleep. Appropriate for caregivers of children 0-18 years old.

Personalized Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTr) sessions tailored to your goals. Initial assessment identifies key behavior changes—like improving treatment adherence or enhancing selfcare behaviours to mitigate caregiver burnout. Includes daily email support for one week and a follow-up session to refine strategies and confirm progress.

Learn Acceptance and Commitment Training (ACTr) strategies to prioritize your well-being and enact meaningful behavior changes based on your values. Ideal for caregivers seeking to manage stress and enhance life balance. Tailored support to reduce burnout through practical, value-driven adjustments.

A Speech-Language Pathologist will conduct a parent interview and screen your child to determine speech, language and/or social communication skills. Based on parent focus and child’s skill level, SLP will work with child, demonstrate strategies and coach the caregiver in order to facilitate learning and help transition skills to home.

Advanced art and Acceptance and Commitment Training-focused sessions for ages 12+. Develops self/emotion-regulation, perspective-taking, self-awareness, decision-making, and mindfulness through complex art projects. Participants should have sophisticated language and conversational skills.

This group is a unique opportunity for children who are speaking or non-speaking (and using augmentative communication) to have opportunities to socialize and use their skills in a fun and supportive environment. This will also provide an opportunity for children to see other children using AAC and will build their own confidence using their AAC to effectively communicate with their peers. Movement and sensory activities will be incorporated into each group session.

Art classes for ages 8-12 years old to enhance creativity, emotional understanding, and social skills. Focuses on imitation, relational framing (i.e., making connections), and group interactions.

Speech and Language Individual Consultations are designed to allow for caregivers the opportunity to discuss 1-2 concerns they have about their child’s speech and language development. Families will meet with a registered Speech-Language Pathologist for a total of four 1:1 consultations, which will last 45 minutes each, and be offered in-person or virtually.

During the first consultation session, parents/caregivers will meet with the Speech-Language Pathologist to discuss concerns they have regarding their child’s communication development. At this time, functional strategies and goals will be shared with the caregivers to ensure that they have the knowledge and confidence required to allow them to help their child become a more effective communicator in everyday life. This service is designed for families of children who are not yet using verbal words to communicate, use a limited number of words, communicate with a communication device (i.e. PECS, Proloquo, SnapCore), struggle to produce speech sounds, communicate using incomplete sentences, or have difficulties with social communication and interaction with peers. No matter what the need is, we can help!

The remaining 3 consultation sessions will involve either only the parent, or both parent and child. The Speech-Language Pathologist will guide the parent in implementation of the strategies and goals discussed during the first consultation session.

Interactive art sessions for early learners focusing on imitation, direction-following, fine motor skills, and communication. Art exploration with caregiver support.

Hanen’s Talkability program is designed for parents of verbal children between the ages of 3-8, with social communication difficulties, particularly those who find it difficult to:
• Have conversations with others
• Play with children their own age
• Talk about things that interest someone else
• Change a routine without becoming frustrated

This program teaches parents practical ways to help their child learn people skills. By “people skills”, we mean the ability to “tune in” to the thoughts and feelings of others by paying attention to non-verbal cues such as body language, facial expressions, eye gaze, and tone of voice. The ability to consider other points of view and to have empathy for others is essential for successful conversations and for making friends. Children with social communication difficulties require extra help to develop these skills.

When you take the TalkAbility Program, you’ll learn:
• How your child carries on conversation and the next steps to take to help him have back-and-forth conversations
• How to encourage your child to pay attention to the social messages people send non-verbally
• How to talk so your child can tune in to what others are thinking; help them appreciate another person's feelings and point of view
• How to help your child tell stories and play imaginatively
• How to help your child make friends

Children’s Friendship Training is a 10-week, in person, evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated children who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends.
During each small-group session, children learn a new skill and practice it with other group members. Children are given weekly assignments to help them apply the new skills in their daily lives. Meanwhile, parents learn how to support their children’s social development, coaching them as they practice their skills in the real world.
Your child will learn these skills:
• Making a good first impression
• Conversing with other children
• Finding common interests with other children
• Playing fairly and being gracious when winning or losing
• Resolving conflicts
• Handling rejection, teasing, and bullying
• Joining other children at play
• Being a good host on a playdate
• Showing respect to other children and adults

The More Than Words Program is a parent/caregiver training program for early communicators that provides you with the tools, strategies and support you need to help you child reach their full communication potential. Offered within a group setting, and consisting of a mixture of group (parents only) and individual consultations (parent and child), the program empowers parents and caregivers to help their child reach the following three goals:
1. Improved social communication and back-and-forth interactions
2. Improved play skills
3. Improved imitation skills

As a parent and/or caregiver, here are some of the valuable things that are learned when attending the More Than Words Program:
• What motivates your child to communicate
• How to use your knowledge about your child to set appropriate and realistic goals
• How to make interactions with your child last longer
• Tips for using pictures and print to help your child’s understanding
• Strategies for how to talk so that your child understands you
• Strategies for developing your child’s play skills
• Ways to help your child make friends

Children’s Friendship Training is an in person, evidence-based social skills intervention for motivated children who are interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends. During each small-group session, children learn a new skill and practice it with other group members. Meanwhile, parents learn how to support their children’s social development, coaching them as they practice their skills in the real world. Your child will learn these skills:

• Making a good first impression
• Conversing with other children
• Finding common interests with other children
• Playing fairly and being gracious when winning or losing
• Resolving conflicts
• Handling rejection, teasing, and bullying
• Joining other children at play
• Being a good host on a playdate
• Showing respect to other children and adults

BCBAs and caregivers troubleshoot, problem solve and consult about a topic of the caregiver’s choice. May be related to skill building, problem behaviour, incorporating ABA principles into daily living, etc. The clinic day consultations are intended to provide general information and may not be suitable for severe challenging behaviour or other complex issues. Please be prepared with some questions or scenarios to direct the conversation.

We provide up to 3, one-hour sessions with a Behavior Clinician to directly support parents and caregivers to address a specific need/goal and the tools to support your child/youth’s skill development. Prior to these consultations, one of our skilled Foundational Family Service Clinicians will conduct an initial call to discuss your child’s current needs/skills and gather general information to help individualize these sessions. *Please note that due to the complexity of some specific needs/ goals, the Foundational Family Service Clinicians may determine that a goal is not appropriate for targeted sessions as they may require a more comprehensive assessment to be completed (i.e., accessing a core clinical service).

Targeted Consultation topics could include, but are not limited to:

• Strategies for toilet training (e.g., assessing readiness, developing a toilet training plan)
• Early learner communication (e.g., using a choice board)
• Social skills (e.g., sharing with a sibling)
• Transition support (e.g., using a visual schedule)
• Self-advocacy skills (e.g., sharing pronouns, advocating for specialized services in the school system)

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND. We are happy to offer drop-in clinics for adolescents and caregivers to access a 50- minute consultation session with Dr. Price. Clients will be able to schedule a time during one of the clinic days, where they are able to discuss any current mental health concerns, learning basic strategies that can be implemented at home and in the community, and to receive recommendations to plan for next steps.

The RUBI Parent Training for Disruptive Behaviours is intended to equip parents with a variety of techniques and tools that can help minimize disruptive behaviours and increase desired behaviours. It provides families with a wealth of information that can assist in their day-to-day planning for their child by including teaching opportunities for play skills, daily living skills as well as opportunities to apply behaviour management skills for encouraging desired behaviours.

This group is based on the Circles Intimacy and Relationships (Level 1) curriculum by James Stanfield. The group is intended to help children with autism develop and understand social roles, relationship boundaries, and relationship-specific behaviours (e.g., it’s okay to hug your mother, but it’s not okay to hug the mail carrier) by using step-by-step dramatizations and visual examples to teach extremely abstract concepts in a very simple and concrete manner. Each session will focus on explaining the relationship between the level of intimacy between people and the way they Touch, Talk to, and Trust each other based on which “circle” of intimacy they are in. Different relationships and roles will be evaluated using 6 qualifiers: how long have you known the person, how often do you see the person, how many common bonds do you have with the person, how well do you know the person, how deep are your feelings for the person, and how safe are you with the person. The participants will get to keep a take home circle chart of their own that they’ve made that will place strangers, community helpers, neighbors, peers, friends, family members and a sweetheart (if appropriate) all with themselves at the heart of their personalized circle. We will be using words like "romantic touch” to describe interpersonal contact in romantic relationships without going into any explicit detail. The term “sweetheart” will be used to refer to a boyfriend or girlfriend. Consent and the right to withdraw consent will also be discussed. This is not intended to be a course on sexual education. The group sessions are being offered by an ABA consultant who will use ABA strategies (such as rewards, behavioural skills training and other interactive strategies) to assist in the learning of this material.

Individualized targeted 6 session consultation to work on a specific goal. These may include: functional skills such as toileting, eating, hygeine; communication goals (i.e., functional communication); identifying alternatives to disruptive behaviour, etc. In person sessions may include direct work with children and adolescents.