SERVICES OFFERED
Mike Peterman's “Creative Play Services” offers a variety of services to children on the autism spectrum.
These services include:
- Teaching functional play skills and social skills in home programs and in “real world” social contexts.
- Providing social skills coaching in groups and natural environments (such as playgrounds, parks and schools).
- Facilitating playgroups that include both typical and special needs children.
- Developing motor skills by engaging in fun, “real world” activities, such as playing baseball, basketball or football or playing with other children at a playground or park.
- Coaching sports activities (such as baseball, football, basketball), both one-on-one and as part of a group with other children.
Mike's skills and services are special for the following reasons.
- Mike tailors his sessions to each child's individual needs and interests and helps each child improve his or her skills in a number of areas, including play skills, social skills, motor skills and sports skills.
- Mike engages each child in activities that the child helps select and that the child considers great fun.
- Mike provides his services in a natural setting, such as a playground, park, or living room. He offers the child “real world” opportunities to learn social, motor and sports and sports skills, often in a group with other kids.
- The activities that the child participates in are as varied as the child's interests and needs and can vary from week-to-week. For example, Mike might engage a child pretend play in his living room; take a child to the batting cages to hit baseballs; child to a nearby playground to learn how to play in the sand with other kids; or child to a nearby park to plan and run football plays.
- Because Mike truly understands children and is a child “magnet”, he is able to show up at a playground or park with his special needs child and quickly involve that child with other children in an activity that is both enjoyable to all and therapeutically beneficial.
- The child forms a “natural” and nurturing relationship with Mike, who cares for, enjoys and has a confidence in the kids he works with. The children respond to him by trusting and gaining confidence in their own abilities.
- With his background in coaching and counseling, Mike is a terrific motivator. He knows what makes kids tick and provides the encouragement necessary to get a child to risk; to stretch beyond his or her accustomed routine and interests; to build flexibility; to broaden interests, and, most importantly, to build confidence, especially in areas where a child might have felt previously discouraged.
