Little Rock Area Pragmatic Speech Groups
Thursday, August 6, 2009 Pragmatic speech therapy is desperately needed by many higher-functioning children with autism. Also called social skills classes, these therapy groups help children learn correct social behavior. However, arranging these speech groups can be difficult, since children need to practice with other children their own age. A few pragmatic language or social skills groups can be found in the Little Rock area:
The speech program at UALR has pragmatics groups for children 7-12 years old, and the occasional teen group. The cost is $250 for a semester of once a week classes. The group's supervised by a speech-language pathologist with undergraduates doing the bulk of the therapy. The entire fee must be paid up front, and UALR will not bill your insurance company or Medicaid. Dr. Betholyn Gentry manages the lengthy wait list for the program; she can be reached at either 501-569-8913 or gentrybetholynf@uams.edu to see if this program would be suitable for your child.
The ACH Child Study Center also runs a social skills group on a school calendar. The group ranges in age from 5 to 10, with Ph.D. Psychologist Rachel Bowman supervising the master's level therapists and therapist-trainees. This social skills group can be billed as a group therapy session to insurance or Medicaid, with UAMS handling the actual billing. The "rack rate" per group session is $100, although most insurance and medicaid provides a significant discount. The waiting list for the Dr. Bowman group is extensive.
ACCESS opened some afternoon classes the fall of 2009 for social skills classes. Once a week the classes meet in small age groups of 5-7, 8-11, and 12-15. A speech language pathologist supervises the group.The cost is $45 per session for the 14 week program, payable by monthly bank draft. Please check with your insurance but Access will not be filing for payment. Groups start August 24th, so please call Beth Rice of Access, 217-8600, if you're interested.
The UCA Speech-Language Hearing Center offers extensive therapy services at $25 per session. UCA is not filing with insurance so all expenses must be covered by the parent. SLP students provide therapy services under the direction of UCA faculty. UCA also offers $35 speech evaluations, as I've previously described.
If you're new to the exasperating wait lists for autism services, try to be persistent yet polite. Sometimes these therapy groups lose applications, or have massive cancellations, so keep calling and checking.
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Adolescent Social Skills Group at ACH
Dr. Rachel Bowman of the Child Study Center also has a social skills group for teenagers:
"Yes, it is basically the same process as the CSC group [for younger children]. They can contact Gayle Pipkin at 501-364-5183. The purpose of the group is to improve social skills for teens ages 12-17 with Asperger's or high-functioning Autism. We work on skills like starting and ending conversations, how to know if you're talking too long, and appropriate conversation topics and questions. The group will meet weekly for 8 sessions at the Psychiatric Research Institute on the main UAMS campus. Please contact Gayle for an appointment to get your teen enrolled."
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Therapy Providers of Little Rock has also started offering social skills classes. Call 603-9976 for more information.