Building social-emotional confidence and competence

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Spotlight: Ages 10-20
OnQ: Ages 6-10
Take One: Ages 3-6
Teens in Transition:16-22
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What is Spotlight?

Spotlight is clinically-based social pragmatics program of the North Shore Arc, integrating techniques of theater games and dramatic training with highly motivating and age-appropriate activities (such as video games, knowledge-based trivia games, etc.), as well as a positive social reinforcement-based environment to foster skill development in core deficit areas.

  

Spotlight staff are chosen from a selective pool of widely varying candidates including special education teachers, social workers, and even skilled actors, and are trained to focus on maintaining an “inside-out” approach to teaching social skills; this means that instead of looking at the students exclusively through their behaviors, they try to understand and connect with the individual motivations of each student.

 Who is eligible for Spotlight?

Spotlight students range in age from 9-20 years old. Though the program was originally designed for adolescents with Asperger’s Syndrome, High Functioning Autism, and Non-verbal Learning Disorder, great success has been attained with students with a much wider range of diagnoses, including ADHD, Bi-polar Disorder, Depression, Social Anxiety, Pervasive Anxiety Disorder, Williams’ Syndrome, PDD, PDD-NOS, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Mental Retardation, and Autism. However, no diagnosis is necessary to participate in Spotlight, only an interest in developing greater social-emotional and non-verbal interaction skills. 

  

When does Spotlight happen?

Spotlight runs year-round through seasonal after school and weekend semesters, enhanced vacation programs, with the flagship version of the program being the highly successful and acclaimed Summer Program. Spotlight offers a high 1:3 teacher to student ratio and provides ample communication with schools and families to ensure that individualized goals are being met. Additionally, Spotlight offers an auxiliary wing of the program called “Spotlight Events,” which is designed to offer family-driven recreation and special event opportunities for all members of the Spotlight community.