Guiding Hands School provides speech and language therapy to students who qualify for services based on the California Code of Regulations, Title 5 and as outlined in the student's IEP. Our services are differentiated for each individual student to provide the skills they need to succeed in their educational program.

Early intervention is crucial to a student's outcome: Using a developmental model, most students benefit from individual treatment up through 12 years of age. Guiding Hands School also believes that bringing speech and language therapy services into the classroom is optimal for generalization and is paramount for educational benefit. We address this goal through social thinking groups in the student's special education class. The groups are lead by the speech-language pathologist with the support of the classroom teacher.

When social language is difficult, students often encounter confusion with conversation rules, irrelevant or out-of-place comments, and off-topic remarks. Nonverbal cues are not considered, rules of personal space are disregarded, and the ability to adjust one's language according to the situation is weak.

Our social thinking groups focus on using language for a purpose, emphasizing effective communication, and personal problem solving/organizational skills. The topics addressed in the group language sessions promote the student's success in social and interpersonal communication, which in turn lays the foundation for self-confidence and self-esteem.