Word: peers
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...groups are typically small, with a maximum of five kids. A session costs around $80 a child; on average, kids go weekly for one year, although some, like Alexander, choose to stay longer. Peer Play Groups works with youngsters 5 to 13, and Cohen and Greenbaum carefully screen families, which are referred by teachers, doctors or friends, to weed out children with severe behavioral disorders. The goal is to balance each group with kids who are outgoing and those who are withdrawn. To help them address the difficulties they face--being teased or bullied at school, feeling excluded from playground...
Similarly, when Alexander found that no one was interested in talking about the Middle Ages, he asked his groupmates at Peer Play Groups for recommendations. They advised him to initiate conversations, laugh a bit more and think of topics other kids might be interested in. "It didn't work the first time, but the second time it went well, and now it works great," Alexander says. "Now I have a group of kids I have lunch with every day. We make up weird songs, talk about music or what we're doing for the summer. For some reason, it seems...
...work through some shame" about her son's involvement. But overall, the positives clearly outweigh any embarrassment for many kids. "They know they're unhappy, that they're not good at connecting to people, and they love coming. It's like a lifeline for them," says Peer Play Groups' Greenbaum. A very affectionate third-grader who alienated classmates by standing too close when she spoke or hugging them at inappropriate times was so delighted with her group that she mentioned it to a classmate who was awkward and being ostracized. The boy got his parents to enroll him and, says...
...course, while the groups can change behavior, they are not intended to change a kid's underlying personality. Alexander is in many ways still an unusually gentle, quiet kid who says he prefers low-key celebrations of his birthday to large parties with lots of kids. But Peer Play Groups, which he says "helped me so much" and which he has no immediate plans to leave, has enabled him to feel more comfortable in social settings--and more willing to take the risks required for developing closer friendships. At lunch recently, Alexander chatted easily with his buddies about the cello...
...Social Studies Peer-therapy groups help shy children learn how to make friends...