Child & Youth Group Programs

Led by psychologists-in-training under the supervision of registered psychologists, our group programs are built on foundations from Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), social learning, and social information processing theories and are delivered through psycho-educational and process-oriented models. Their purpose is to assist children and adolescents in connecting with their peers, building their self-confidence and developing social competence in a structured and supportive learning environment. All group programs require the completion of an intake package to ensure a good fit between the participant and program. Participation in these groups requires no significant emotional or behavioural challenges

Intake Criteria:

For our group programs, there is a one-time intake process that tries to ensure a good fit between the needs of the participant and what the programs can provide. All potential participants must meet all three of these criteria:

1. Diagnosed Learning Disability and/or ADHD - Learning Disability and/or ADHD must be diagnosed by a psychologist or pediatrician (ADHD only) and is considered to be the child's primary diagnosis.  For individuals with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) Level 1, this diagnosis must be secondary to their Learning Disability and/or ADHD.
    
2. Average to above-average IQ - A full-scale IQ (FSIQ) or general ability index (GAI) of 85 or above as indicated in the psycho-educational assessment.
    
3. No significant emotional or behavioural regulation challenges - The individual is able to participate in a 3:1 child to staff member ratio. If the child requires 1:1 behavioural and/or emotional regulation support for more than 50% of the day or has significant emotional or behaviour regulation challenges (see below) they would not qualify for our program. We do not have aides or parents attend programs with our participants.
    
4. Participants are able to stay in large groups consistently - The child will be in groups of up to 36 campers for some components of Amicus summer programming and up to 12 participants for Psychology groups.

What are considered significant emotional and behavioural regulation challenges and outside of the scope of our intake criteria?  

• Significant emotional regulation challenges would include: consistently running away and/or hiding when upset, consistently unable to regulate emotions with support from adults, etc. 
• Significant behavioural regulation challenges would include; frequent physical contact with others (hitting, biting, spitting, etc.), unable to leave a situation with support from an adult, etc.

Please Note: Our programs are quite popular. While we try to accommodate all interested participants, decisions are made in the best interest of the participant and the group as a whole. Such decisions cannot be made until ALL required documents are received. Therefore, parents are encouraged to complete all registration requirements as quickly as possible to allow for a timely response. When there are a number of approved candidates to choose from, a 'first come, first served' approach will be utilized.