We wanted to share this photo because we thought it illustrates the benefits of children having therapy in group sessions. The girls drew a picture for daddy for Father’s Day and had the opportunity to learn about using comparatives such as taller than, shorter than, heavier and lighter.
You can see from the pictures that the girls had the opportunity to draw the see-saw in different ways: either heavier person on the left, or heavier person on the right.
Learning in a therapy group allows a child to see different perspectives, and thereby gets a clearer idea of concepts. (In this case, the children learn different ways a ‘heavy’ object can be presented, and avoid mistaking ‘heavy’ for just being on the left, or the right side of a balance.)
Here are other advantages of learning in a group observed by us and by parents:
1) It is less threatening. It is easier for a child to see that others are also learning, others may make ‘mistakes’ too. This is crucial for learning as you cannot learn without trying, or making mistakes.
2) It is valuable morale support for children to learn with others who may also have difficulties.
3) It is more fun and motivating for children when there are learning ‘buddies’, they have longer attention spans.
4) Children learn from others’ perspectives and can have more ideas.
5) It enhances social skills too such as conversational skills, working in groups, standing up for themselves etc
6) Research results show that therapy goals can be achieved in the same time in a group setting as in individual setting.
7)Peer learning (learning from or teaching each other) has been shown to be a highly effective learning strategy.
Watch this video to see how much fun the children have in a group session, all while learning mathematical concepts: Group session video