Synergic Therapy
Social | Executive Functioning | Behavior | Speech-Language
In My Shoes
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Neuro-Typical
Development
By age 5 years Early Education: Infant-Early Childhood
Playing more cooperatively.
Shares and takes turns.
Learning to imagine & develop fantasy and explorative play.
Beginning to learn to interpret the perspective of others.
Can engage in pretend play.
Follows simple game rules.
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Being Social
Children are born with the potential to develop executive capacities.
Improvement in inhibitory control and sustained attention is evident.
Working memory and problem-solving abilities improve.
Students can start & finish activities.
Can follow a schedule/routine.
Can delay eating a treat.
Improved abilities on false-belief activities.
Executive Functioning Skills
Can sit and listen to short stories.
Shows more persistence than before.
Acts less resistantly.
Wants to please people.
Negotiates and can compromise.
Can share but may find it difficult.
Wants to make own decisions.
Still may demonstrate impatience.
Behavior
Follows 2-3-steps directions.
Engages in a reciprocal conversation.
Uses 6-8 words sentences.
Makes up stories.
Describes objects using 3-4 attributes.
Answers "who, what, when, where, why, how" questions.
Describes how to do things.
Lists items in a category
Speech/Language
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Neuro-Typical
Development
By age 10 years Elementary School: Middle-Late Childhood
In a conversation, stays on topic and eye gazes appropriately.
Can take the perspective of others.
Recognizes other people's achievements.
Recess may be their favorite subject.
More conscious of differences.
Closer to 8, may start to confide in family.
Being Social
Develops a plan for writing (beg, mid, end).
Initiates less preferred tasks in a timely manner.
Maintains organization of materials using personalized systems.
Independently follows daily routines.
Manages strong emotions or inhibits over reactions.
Is starting to develop study skills for homework.
Executive Functioning Skills
Can pay attention for their age plus 2 in minutes.
Behaves safely.
Follows adult directions.
Keeps hands and feet to themselves.
Cleans up after themselves.
Follows behavioral expectations in school.
Helpful around the home/chores.
Behavior
Participates in group discussions.
Summarizes and restates.
Follows reasonable peer directions.
Can give an oral presentation.
Defines words and ideas.
Can express their thoughts clearly.
Comprehends grade level reading.
Speech/Language
Neuro-Typical
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Development
By age 14 years Middle School: Late Childhood-Adolescence
Learns shading in conversations.
Seeks out own peer groups.
Recognizes their own emotions.
Takes others perspective and can empathize.
Maintains cooperative relationships.
Forms a social family outside of the home.
Being Social
Prioritizes work over free time.
Starts/finishes work with minimal procrastination.
Turns in assignments on time.
Uses flexible thinking by editing work and changing approach.
Can allocate time effectively.
Plans and executes tasks mentally.
Responsibly completes chores.
Increase in goal-directed behavior
Executive Functioning Skills
Becomes more assertive.
Develops more independence.
Cares what peers think.
Predicts consequences for misbehavior.
Self-preoccupied with appearance and privacy.
Keeping promises becomes important.
Notorious in finding loop-holes to explain things away.
Behavior
Uses metaphors and idioms.
Can paraphrase/summarize.
Can identify/articulate main idea.
Understands what they read.
Can problem-solve with little assistance.
Can look beyond the literal interpretation.
Understand the difference between active and passive voice.
Speech/Language
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Development
Neuro-Typical
By age 18 years High School: Adolescence-Teenagers
Language maintains social bonds.
Friends may be more important than family.
Peer opinions can be stressful.
Family teasing can be taken seriously, especially if it's about appearance.
Privacy and personal space are extremely important.
Being Social
Uses cognitive flexibility while working in groups.
Considers multiple perspectives when problem-solving and decision making.
Controls strong emotions.
Inhibits impulsive behaviors.
Can talk about specific strengths and challenges.
Increased processing speed.
Executive Functioning Skills
Risk-taking behaviors emerge.
May start to distance themselves emotionally.
May not want to be seen with family members in public.
Thinks for themselves but often feels confused.
Behavior
Relates personal events to what they read.
Analyzes/synthesizes text.
Discusses character motivation.
Verbal fluency improves significantly.
Understands and uses figurative language.
Uses expository text.
Detects and responds appropriately to sarcasm.
Speech/Language
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Development
Neuro-Typical
By age Young Adulthood College/Vocational: Young Adult
Language maintains social bonds.
Social skills continue to be used to build closer relationships.
Number of friends may decrease but spending time with friends increases.
Family teasing can be taken seriously, especially if it's about appearance.
Significant changes in perspective.
Differentiates companion from life partner.
Being Social
Effectively controls inhibitory responses.
Improved attention for less preferred activities.
Mentally advances in planning and problem solving.
Still shows TOM deficits under specific situations.
Starts planning and prioritizing for others, not just self.
Decisions have reaching effects.
Further developed working memory.
Executive Functioning Skills
Future stability is on the forefront of thoughts.
Emotional vulnerability appears.
Role in society changes.
Realizes there are consequences for most mistakes.
Independence is a necessity and not a luxury.
Risk-taking behaviors diminish.
May be responsible for others not just self.
Behavior
Repairs miscommunications in the moment.
Verbalizes organized /sequential stories in the moment.
Uses higher-level vocabulary and more complex sentences.
Changes language for the listener and situation.
Follows rules of conversations; previews topic uses nonverbal communication alongside verbal language, can turn-take.