Programs & Services (New – in development)

Join us in person for Conversation Cues. Conversation Cues is a 12-session program teaching the skills needed during conversations. Sessions are taught using a variety of activities, videos, workbooks, and role-plays. Topics covered include;

- When To Start the Conversation
- Cue: Interested
- Cue: Not Interested
- How To Start a Conversation
- Cue: Bored
- Take Turns
- Maintain Conversation
- Talk on Topic
- Cue: Disbelief
- Cue: Confused
- My Cues
- End Conversation

Program for the Education and Enrichment of Relationship Skills (PEERS®) is a social skills training intervention for youth. It is designed for motivated youth interested in learning ways to help them make and keep friends. They are taught essential social skills such as conversational skills, maintaining friendships, using humour appropriately, and handling disagreements. Teens have an opportunity to practice these skills through role-playing and other activities.

16 weeks of 1.5-hour sessions, for both teens and parents (or designated social coach). (Teen sessions and adult sessions will run at the same time but in different rooms).

Teens will learn how to:
 Use appropriate conversational skills
 Use humor appropriately
 Use electronic communication
 Enter & exit conversations
 Be a good host during get-togethers
 Be a good sport
 Handle arguments and disagreements
 Change a bad reputation
 Handle rumors and gossip
 Handle rejection, teasing, and bullying

Job Tips utilizes real-world scenarios & strategies to support teens and adults transitioning to the workplace. Sessions are taught using evidence-based strategies such as visual supports, social stories & comics, role-playing scenarios, video modeling, as well as self-assessments, and graphic organizers.

Topics include:
 Determining Interests
 Job Search
 Resumes & Cover Letters
 Interview Skills
 References
 Disclosure

Celebrate the New Year with us! Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is not therapy, but rather a venue for sibs to have fun, laugh, talk about the good and not-so-good parts, play some great games, learn something about the services/diagnosis of their brothers or sisters, and have some more fun. This all-day session includes snacks and lunches.

Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is not therapy, but rather avenue for sibs to have fun, laugh, talk about the good and not-so-good parts, play some great games, learn something about the services/diagnosis of their brothers or sisters, and have some more fun. This all-day Hallowe’en-themed session includes snacks and lunches.

Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is not therapy, but rather avenue for sibs to have fun, laugh, talk about the good and not-so-good parts, play some great games, learn something about the services/diagnosis of their brothers or sisters, and have some more fun. This all-day Hallowe’en-themed session includes snacks and lunches.

Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is an opportunity for those who have a sibling with an ASD diagnosis. Sibshops is not therapy, but rather avenue for sibs to have fun, laugh, talk about the good and not-so-good parts, play some great games, learn something about the services/diagnosis of their brothers or sisters, and have some more fun. This all-day Hallowe’en-themed session includes snacks and lunches.

Roots & Wings Psychology is excited to offer a new service called Sleep Tight. Good sleep is crucial in supporting our children/youth’s growth and development as well as healthy brain and body functioning throughout their day. The Sleep Tight program is a time limited service that offers a sleep assessment and treatment plan, along with one month of follow up support.

Goals of the treatment plan are developed collaboratively with caregivers in consideration of the client, family values, as well as safety and subjective experience. Goals can include but are not limited to: falling asleep quickly, staying asleep throughout the night, rise without difficulty in the morning, decrease drowsiness during the day, and fall and stay asleep unassisted.

Roots & Wings Psychology is pleased to offer social skills groups using the POWER-Solving®: Stepping Stones to Helping Children Solve Life’s Everyday Social Problems curriculum. This comprehensive social skills curriculum teaches problem solving, anger management, social conversation, and developing friendship skills. Examples of skills targeted include, but are not limited to: setting and achieving a goal within a given situation; staying calm when told ‘no’, or when things don’t go their way; starting, maintaining, changing the topic, and ending conversation appropriately; accepting others who are different from them; and learning how to play a game appropriately.

Eligible participants must be between 7 and 11 years of age with no externalized behaviours (i.e., physical aggression, property destruction, self-injurious behaviours), and well-established verbal repertoire (i.e., can read and write close to their grade level).

Pizza and drinks will be provided at each session.

This workshop is a condensed version of the Parent Management Training (Kazdin, 2008) program. It aims to enhance parenting skills to improve challenging behaviours in children, such as aggression, hyperactivity, and non-compliance. The training will take place virtually. Handouts will be emailed to participants, as appropriate.

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND. This service is intended for caregivers or adolescents (age 13+) to receive direct individual support from a psychologist or clinical associate working under the supervision of Dr. Stephanie Price or Dr. Matias Mariani to address challenges related to a range of issues (e.g., family problems, parenting stress, bullying at school, worries, etc.). The goal is to provide time-limited counselling to better manage emotions, improve problem-solving, and learn various coping skills.

The Cool Kids Program for ASD (Chalfant, Lyneham, Rapee, & Carroll, 2011) is an evidence-based, structured therapy designed to help children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, aged 9 to 12 years effectively identify, manage, and overcome anxiety. The program uses a Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) approach and incorporates various techniques and strategies to help young individuals develop the skills necessary to better identify feelings, cope with anxiety, foster social skills, and improve overall function. All materials will be provided.

Note: All applicants must undergo an intake interview to determine eligibility.

This Social Resilience Builder Group for Teens is intended for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder, aged 13 to 18 years. This group is adapted from The Resilience Builder Program (Alvord, Zucker, & Grados, 2011) that is designed to support individuals to bounce back from stress by developing resilience and protective factors, such as self-awareness, self-regulation, flexible thinking, and social competence. All materials will be provided.

Note: All applicants must undergo an intake interview to determine eligibility.

People interact socially many times in a day. For children with autism, developing social skills may require more practice and more opportunities. In this workshop series, caregivers are provided an overview of the importance of social skills and are introduced to various strategies that can be used with their children to target specific social skills. Caregivers will be given an opportunity to identify a relevant social skill to teach their child, utilizing a strategy reviewed in the workshop and will have opportunities to practice and report back in a 1:1 follow up consultation.

Teaching Parents to Toilet Train Their Child
We will train parents via telehealth and provide a few 1:1 consults specific to the implementation of teaching their child.

This toilet training program reviewed with participants comes from Dr. Natalie Paquet Croteau’s recent article published in the Journal of Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities.

Toileting is an essential skill for all individuals to acquire and serves as a steppingstone to the development of many other skills. This service aims to support parents and caregivers of children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) to teach toileting skills.

Toileting phases
• Research supported strategies
• Child centered approach to toileting
• Collecting and interpreting data
• Reinforcement and troubleshooting

This workshop series is recommended for families with a child who has recently received an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis. After receiving news of a diagnosis, families will navigate through a lot of information to make important decisions about next steps. This series offers 3 workshops, along with 4, 1:1, 30-minute consultations with a BCBA-D. Workshop 1 will provide an overview of various services recommended to families with a child with ASD. Workshop 2 will provide an overview of Autism and Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) and why ABA is well suited to address ASD. Workshop 3 will focus on developing positive interactions as a foundation to teach a variety of different skills in these early stages. 4, 30-minute, 1:1 consultations will follow Workshop 3, where families will identify a goal and will work with the BCBA-D to develop this skill. 1:1 consultations are for caregivers and child to attend. Workshops are delivered virtually and consultations can be virtual or in person, based on preference and availability.

Join us as we focus on social skills needed for play with friends and peers. Target skills include: - Taking-turns
- Waiting
- Sharing
- Winning & Losing
Parents and guardians are welcome to join us for at 11:30 for generalization on Friday August 11. Generalization handouts will also be provided daily.

This is a parent/caregiver mediated program offered to families who would like to work on a specific goal. The 8-week program includes 6 face-to-face or virtual meetings throughout the 8-week service. A meeting will occur for the following: discussion around suitability of the goal, observation, assessment, strategy development, parent/caregiver direct support/coaching, and generalization and maintenance.

Children’s Friendship Training is a 10-week evidence-based social skills group intervention for children aged 7- 11 years who are motivated in learning ways to make and keep friends. Parents/Guardians attend simultaneous sessions and gain skills to support their child.