top of page
Treatment Groupings

S.E.B.S. Brainery, a division of Synergic Therapy, provides individual and small group treatment using evidence-based practices including brain-based learning methods such as cognitive training.  The Cogmental Domains of Being Social, Executive Functioning Skills, Speech-Language Skills, Fundamental Neurological Skills, and Behavior Skills are synergically used (combined) in therapy sessions to learn and develop new skills and experiences by connecting to what the student already knows and has experienced. 

 

When using this method, students remember more and recall knowledge more efficiently by being able to access the stored information readily.  Practice using a multi-modal approach also makes the learning last by improving the ability to understand and not just memorize for the moment.  

Individual therapy is provided in the following areas:

​

  • Being social: Thinking, feeling, and behaving socially

  • Executive Functioning skills

  • Speech/Language skills

  • Behavior skills: Adaptive/maladaptive behavior

  • Cognitive learning capacities

 

Individual therapy with a licensed, highly trained, and expert clinician in a calm homely environment can be one of the most optimal learning situations to teach specific skills, strategies, and behaviors.

Students receive the therapist's undivided attention unlike in any other learning setting. Some additional benefits of individual treatment include:

​

  1. Many students are more focused when working one-to-one with a therapist in a quite comfortable therapeutic environment.

  2. Individual sessions are tailored to meet the specific behavioral, educational, neurological, and social needs of the student.

  3. Multiple goals can be targeted in one session.

  4. Individual treatment can be provided in different settings including the office, in the community, the school setting, and in the home.

  5. Many foundational skills are best taught individually for maximal understanding and then generalized in a group setting.

  6. Some conditions require specialized individual treatment such as articulation, swallowing disorders, or voice disorders.

Individual Therapy

The S.E.B.S. Brainery is a therapy place that offers group learning.  Successful group work is an essential component of student learning.  Group participation can improve the quality of life and social usefulness of individuals who feel socially isolated and want to make friends but can't independently. 

Group work at S.E.B.S. Brainery can also:

​

  • Increase school achievement and success

  • Improve social awareness, engagement, thinking, and learning

  • Develop and strengthen executive functioning skills that a student uses all day/everyday

  • Increasing adaptive behaviors while reducing problem behaviors

  • Improving communication skills and listening skills, 

  • Improving the ability to write,  and speak clearly, logically, and concisely. 

S.E.B.S. Brainery provides small group treatment sessions of 2-5 students.  These groups are taught by a highly experienced and educated, multi-disciplinary therapist.

 

The benefits of small group learning

​

  1. Developing interpersonal social, language, and communication skills to interact positively, safely, and enjoyably with peers.

  2. Learning to share his/her perspective in a motivating environment and increase the ability to use perspective thinking accurately and efficiently in-the-moment during functional social interactions not always possible in larger group situations.

  3. Student's are better at reasoning, decision-making, and problem-solving in small groups

  4. Students gain a deeper understanding of the material when strategies to ensure understanding (paraphrase, restate) are utilized during direct teaching.  This is not possible in large groups due to time constraints.  Small groups allow time to reflect on and connect new information to specific prior knowledge for each student in a more effective way to make learning last.  

  5. Students pay more attention to small group situations than larger groups

  6. Smaller groups lend to active participation, dynamically focused learning, and valuable reflection

  7. Allows for more intensive interactions and multiple opportunities to share ideas and respond

What students learn in addition to the core content

​

  • Improve the ability to socially adjust expectations to accept and learn from different perspectives.

  • Learn and practice strategies for basic and higher-level problem-solving skills, conflict resolution and reasoning, judgment, and critical thinking.

  • Reduce and cope with feelings of anxiety and stress, helplessness, and loneliness overtime.

  • Learn to follow directions from peers not only adults, developmental flexibility.

  • Establish and maintain positive relationships with peers by learning and practicing appropriate social/communication skills in a small facilitated setting that contains the appropriate strategies to succeed. 

  • Learning to relate to others by discussing commonalities with each other.

  • Developing new friendships that can evolve outside of the group setting.

  • Learn the roles and experience of being both a leader and a follower.

  • Develop self-skills: self-awareness, self-esteem, self-confidence, behavior regulation,   emotional control.

  • Learn and further develop core values such as honesty, caring, respect.

  • The optimal cooperative environment to learn about and celebrate diversity including challenging assumptions.

  • The development of emotional intelligence; empathy, understanding a range of emotions and feelings, expressing how one feels more accurately.

  • Improve a student’s communication skills, learn how to modify their language to be understood, learn to paraphrase, repair miscommunication.

Approximate group therapy age ranges
Current group topics taught at S.E.B.S. Brainery
Tap on the image to enlarge
Skills Groups
Support Groups

At the SEBS Brainery, I am proud to offer S.U.P.P.O.R.T. groups for students and S.U.P.P.O.R.T. forums for adults.  Emotional health is just as important to nurture as physical well-being.  Support groups are quickly becoming a must-have element in successful treatment plans for all family members including the student.  The feelings associated with unconditional acceptance, being understood, relating to others, optimism, and talking it through are invaluable.  While the topic of discussion will vary, the groups and forums follow the same principles of S.U.P.P.O.R.T.​

Think positively・Smile often・Embrace change
S.U.P.P.O.R.T.
Shape self-analysis skills
Understand complex emotions
Play, practice, perform
Participate in a positive and accepting social enviornment
One's own life matters
Reinforce and enhance communication skills
Together we can progress our knowledge
S
Shape self-analysis skills

Students learn to control their thoughts, feelings, and other behaviors using proactive and reactive coping strategies, decision-making, and problem-solving skills.  Improving self-mindset skills, in turn, increases independence, adaptive behaviors, and active self-awareness.  It also decreases the need to engage in maladaptive behaviors. 

​

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • Cope with challenges and manage stress

  • Improve impulse control

  • Develop internal motivation

  • Improve self-confidence and self-concept

  • Make responsible choices

Understand complex emotions

Learning to understand, identify, and effectively communicate emotions are critical life competencies.  The ability to be empathetic, develop positive relationships, develop coping skills, and strengthen resilience all evolve from developing these emotional competencies.

​

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • What are emotions? Levels of intensity, experiencing one than one at a time.

  • Understand feelings, when they occur/types of situations, why they occur, and how they occur

  • Naming feelings/identifying feelings in others 

  • How to communicate negative emotions positively and not feel judged or ashamed

U
P
Play, practice, perform

Groups are interactive and fun! Board games, language activities, movement activities, role play, modeling are all media used to teach and learn.

​

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • It’s just a game, not a life-changing event

  • Relax and have a great time

  • It’s ok if you win

P
Participate in a positive & accepting
social environment

Learning takes place most effectively when students are happy and the body is calm.  The feelings of belonging to a group, feeling confident, and being comfortable makes for an optimal learning environment.

​

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • Acknowledge siblings concerns as valid challenges and actively seek solutions

  • Support and validation

  • What questions do you have?

  • Talk with others in your shoes

  • Share your stories and inspire others

O
One's own life matters

Aside from the many roles siblings will play and their contributions to the lives of their brothers and sisters with special needs, it is important to remember and respect their own lives.

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • Are your expectations too high?

  • The right to a safe living environment

  • You can pursue your dreams

  • Making time for what’s important to you

R
Reinforce & enhance communication
skills

The mode of communication plays a significant role in the delivery of a message.  Facial gestures and body language can send messages just as effectively as verbal language.

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • Developing good communication skills between you and other family members

  • Encourage family dialogue 

T
Together we can progress our knowledge

In groups, we learn from each other and enhance our knowledge in a safe and friendly atmosphere.

​

Examples of past sessions:

​

  • What is the role of a sibling? Is the role of a sibling with a special needs brother or sister different?

  • Please provide specific information on the disabling conditions that impact their families

Sibling Support Group

Brothers and sisters (siblings) of children with special needs have their own unique needs entirely different from living with only neuro-typical children. There are many positive skills learned that build character, such as developing patience, empathy for others, and accepting and supporting differences.  There too, can be a challenging side to being a sibling of a special needs child.  Growing up can be an emotional roller coaster more than usual.  These can include some intense feelings that families do not often talk about, if at all.

Jealousy can turn into a personal plight to demand more attention and not frequently and continuously fall into the shadows.  Feelings of disappointment from having to settle with what's available, missing out on activities important to them, feeling of embarrassment, and pressure can be overwhelming to siblings of children with special needs.  

 

These negative feelings can repeatedly occur, leading to resentment and ill feelings, whether openly discussed as a family or not. In turn, this resentment can profoundly affect both the child with special needs and their siblings. Sibling rivalry, abuse, rejection, withdrawal, and psychological concerns can affect brothers and sisters. Yet here you are, parents trying to hold it all together and provide balanced care and attention to all of your children.  

 

Some of these feelings are inevitable, but you still blame yourself. Siblings interacting with other siblings in their position can be rewarding, satisfying, and life-altering. Knowing you're not the only one who has these feelings and emotions can be motivating and uplifting. Learning how to turn negative feelings into positive communication and social interactions can completely alter the mood for the better. Sharing your accomplishments and comparing stories can feel good. Going and experiencing a treatment session could change their perspective on their situation or someone else's.  

What do siblings of children with disabling conditions worry about?

​

  • Am I the one who will take care of Beth when I am older? What about my life? Will I have any friends?

  • Did I do this to my brother? is this going to happen to me too?

  • Why do I always get the blame? He was doing it too!

  • What are my friends going to think when they meet Katie and Keera?

  • Does this mean that I have to be the perfect child now?

  • What about me? I exist too!

​Sibling support groups cover many of the topics these siblings are likely thinking but not necessarily sharing.

​

  • You are not alone or the only one.

  • Implications of having a brother or sister or both with special needs

  • Friends can understand if you explain it.

  • I have a voice

  • Coping with my brother or sister ignoring me and not wanting to talk to me

  • Emotions: what they mean and how to deal with them

  • Your special day when you get to go to a group

  • "I got this!" Teaching resilience to manage and recover from challenges

  • Building self-awareness and self-esteem

Programs specially designed for the brothers and sisters of children with special needs, using evidence-based intervention strategies supported by empirical research methods. 

​

Disabling conditions such as cognitive impairments, neurological disorders, and mental illness can positively and negatively affect the whole family.  Much time and attention go to the child with special needs.  Most of the social support and educational resources are geared toward the parents or caregivers.  

 

What is readily available for the siblings of the child with special needs?

 

Siblings experience significant psychosocial stressors that can increase the risk of psychological effects and behavioral challenges as they age. To acknowledge and support the siblings of children with special needs by increasing facilitated social support for widening their social networks, providing a platform to be, and informing their knowledge.   

The S.E.B.S. Brainery also offers connected support groups for students.  Connected support groups are made up of students who share common experiences, situations, disabling conditions, or concerns.  Groups of students with commonalities start to develop understanding and compassion for each other, which develops into trust and a sense of belonging.  Feelings of belonging can enhance motivation to learn, problem-solve, and develop self-skills.

"My brain functions differently"

Informing a child that they have a disability is a caregiver or parent's choice.  This is usually not completely accomplished in one conversation and may take months for the child to understand their disability, the challenges that accompany it, and the positive aspects. While your intentions may be to normalize differences and communicate that they will always be loved and supported, initially your child may not hear anything past the disability, may deny the very idea, or may have known something was wrong all along.

 

What happens next vastly depends on your child's cognitive and communication abilities and motivation. One blatantly clear thought is that you don't want your child to use the disability as an excuse for attention or escape from less preferred activities. The S.E.B.S. Brainery offers support groups for children who have recently discovered that they have a disabling condition. Being around other students who have had similar experiences can be comforting, promote acceptance positively, and even motivate and develop self-confidence.  ​

Targets of these groups have included;

​

  • Demystifying daily struggles

  • What a disabling condition is and is not

  • Here's what you can say when others ask about your disability-the short version and the long version. 

  • Different is not bad it's different

  • Bullying & teasing, on the receiving end or dishing it out

  • Who am I? personality traits

Caregiver Forums

Parent forums can serve a variety of purposes, including counseling, resources for the future, emotional support, educational advocacy and support, networking opportunities, community services, and escaping your demands to help others. Support forums can help caregivers navigate along a path they never imagined.  From encountering pitfalls to positives, failures to successes, unknowns to blatantly clear. Meeting other parents living similar lives, experiencing similar situations, feeling, and facing similar truths can be positively life-altering. Past participants have worded their experiences as, "Comforting," "Enabling," "Strengthening," "Accepting," "Motivating," "Reassuring," "Uplifting," "Grounding," "Escaping," and "Liberating".  

Support forums currently offered at the SEBS Brainery include:

​

  • Refresher on executive functions

  • Executives and their special needs family

  • Dads, dads, only dads

  • Grandparents want to help

  • Resource night.... with a caveat 

  • Why, when, where, what to tell your child about their

       disabilities

bottom of page