If the Covid-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it is the importance of relationships – friends, family, coworkers, etc. At TALK, we emphasize various social communication skills to help build and maintain friendships. We begin and exploring teaching these skills at an early age through play skills. This not only includes turn-taking, play imitation, and joint attention, but also vocabulary and sentence expansion. As kids get older, other social and expressive language skills develop including, telling personal narratives, identifying and expressing emotions, problem solving, conversational skills, making inferences, figurative language, perspective-taking, humor, negotiation, and much more!

We are so lucky to have many resources and creative therapists to help our clients understand what goes into building friendships. One of our favorite lessons to teach friendships is with…FRIENDSHIP SOUP! Friendship soup isn’t something we can buy, but it’s a way of discussing the various components that go into a friendship. Check out one of our recipes for friendship soup below and encourage your child to make their own special pot of friendship soup.

·       A gallon of kindness

·       One cup of caring

·       Four tablespoons of loyalty

·       A liter of equality

·       One tablespoon of silliness

·       Two cups of honesty and trust

·       One and a half tablespoons of compassion

·       A dash of humor

Go ahead and make your own friendship soup and discuss some of the requirements for a strong and healthy friendship. Have fun and enjoy!