Group Program

The Secret Agent Society (SAS) group social skills program upskills and empowers 8 to 12 year olds with High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (including Asperger Syndrome) and the adults who support them.

The program can be effectively delivered by:

• Psychologists
• Teachers
• Special Education Staff
• Occupational Therapists
• Speech Pathologists
• Social Workers

The program components include:

Child group meetings	9 x 2 hour weekly group sessions and 3-month and 6-month follow-up sessions (standard delivery format).
	The program is ideally co-facilitated by two SAS practitioners with a group of 4 to 6 children (minimum of 3 children).
	Where this is not possible, the program may be delivered by a single practitioner to a maximum of 3 children.
Parent support sessions	Typically, the first 90 minutes of each group meeting is spent assisting children with program activities. Meanwhile, parents discuss amongst themselves the successes and challenges they've faced in supporting their children to use their social skills.
	The final 30 minutes of each group meeting usually involves one facilitator advising parents on how they can help their children to apply their SAS skills in real life, while the other facilitator helps children to use their skills during informal play activities.
Teacher Tip Sheets	These weekly information sheets summarise program content and provide tips on supporting children's skill usage at school.
SAS Computer Game and home missions	Children play a four-level animated computer game at home before group meetings. The computer program teachers them how to recognise emotions in themselves and others, express their feelings in appropriate ways and cope with common social challenges. These skills are applied in the child group meeting activities and weekly home missions.
	Parents help children play the computer game with the aid of an instruction manual.
	Children record their progress on the weekly home missions in a Secret Agent Journal section of the computer game. They can make pictures with speech and thought bubbles (similar to Comic Strip Conversations) to show how they used their social skills in real life.

A brief summary of the content of the weekly child group meetings is provided below.

1	Introduction Code - steps for introducing yourself to others Group rules and session rewards Detection of the Expression Game - detecting emotions from facial expressions and body postures/movements Secret Message Transmission Device Game - detecting how people feel from their voice tone using walkie talkies
2	Secret Agent Body Signals - identifying body clues that signal how you are feeling Emotionometer Device Activity - creating pocket-sized devices that measure degrees of anger and anxiety, and show the body clues and situations in which these emotions are felt Movie Mania - acting out scenes that show different degrees of emotions in different situations
3	Detective Gadgets to help you feel better - review of relaxation strategies to reduce feelings of anxiety and anger Thought Missile Game - shooting down unhelpful 'enemy' thoughts with foam helpful thought missiles
4	Detective Gadgets to help you feel better - review of additional relaxation strategies SAS Friendship Force Game - investigating the qualities that make a good friend Helping Others Code - steps for being helpful to others D.E.C.O.D.E.R formula for solving social problems
5	Conversation Code - steps for starting, continuing and ending conversations Secret Agent Fact File cards - conversation topics for making new friends Dialogue Duel - practising talking to others
6	Play Code - steps for playing with others in a friendly way Damage Control Code - steps for coping with mistakes
7	Secret Agent Society Challenger Board Game - application of social skills during role plays and physical challenges Clues for detecting the difference between accidents, jokes and nasty deeds
8	Bully-Guard Body Armour - strategies for coping with bullying Continue playing the Secret Agent Society Challenger Board Game
9	Confusion Code - steps for coping with feelings of confusion and uncertainty SAS Review game Future planning Program evaluation
Follow-up Meeting 1	Progress update Review games Self-esteem activity Future planning Program evaluation Party time
Follow-up Meeting 2	Progress update Finish the Secret Agent Society Challenger Board Game Future planning Program evaluation Graduation