Fun with Friends is an exciting Speech-Language and Occupational Therapy Group Program for children ages 2-6 years. SPS developed Fun with Friends in the fall of 1996 in response to the need for a preschool-type, more intense therapeutic model to address children's speech, language, sensory, motor, and social-skill development with peers, opposed to a twice weekly individual therapy model.

Fun with Friends uses functional activities to promote skill development, and the group setting encourages friendships and social interaction. Language is thus practiced in a real, versus contrived, environment.

The philosophy behind Fun with Friends is that basic skills need to be mastered before children can acquire complex skills.

For example, a child must be able to blow bubbles and lick peanut butter off his lip before he can say "shoe" or "thanks". A child must be able to cut out a circle with scissors and draw lines before he can learn to write letters.

At SPS, our Speech-Language Pathologists and Occupational Therapists, assist children in acquiring the communicative, sensory, and motor skills they need to experience academic and social success.

Children learn these skills in a supported environment, then put them to use in their daily lives. Many Fun with Friends graduates go on to attend public or private schools with little to no special support.

Our staff meets weekly to discuss each child's progress and to update his or her intervention plan. Every effort is made to involve parents, from an ongoing dialogue with staff to regularly scheduled formal conferences.

At SPS, we strive to give kids a chance to live the life they deserve…to play ball, jump rope, and play dress-up with friends. During Fun with Friends, we build a child's success word by word, step by step.