Circle of Friends

Circle of Friends offers students, with and without disabilities, the opportunity to socialize while engaging in recreational activities and community service projects.

One of the many programs offered by Center for Disability Services is the Circle of Friends Program. The Circle of Friends Program enriches the lives of youth with and without disabilities, through education, awareness as well as the development and support of friendships.

Circle of Friends (COF) helps improve social skills, build successful peer friendships and create successes which students can take into the classroom, their homes, community and workforce. Their successes will build and strengthen a commitment to finish school and lead successful lives.

Many students with social, emotional, behavioral, cognitive, or developmental disabilities find that their educational experience in today's schools did not equip them with the skills necessary to lead self-determined, independent lives. Circle of Friends offers an opportunity for students with developmental disabilities and students without disabilities to come together to learn about and practice social skills.

While the COF program provides many benefits to the students with developmental disabilities, it is important to note that there have been remarkable results with the participating typical developing students.

Why focus on social skills? Limited social skills are one contributing factor to high school dropout rates. Poor social skills prevent strong peer relationships, and have a significant negative impact in academic settings by interfering with one's ability to learn from others, share their own knowledge, and participate in groups. Social skills are also key to successful employment.

Social skills are the baseline for achieving personal and professional success. Social skills are not the same as behavior. Rather, they are components of behavior that help an individual understand and adapt across a variety of social settings. Social skills govern positive behavior. Social skills are needed to initiate and maintain positive social relationships, contribute to peer acceptance and allow an individual to cope effectively in a larger social environment. Social skills help us recognize and manage our own emotions and help us develop caring and concern for others. Social skills help us make responsible decisions and handle challenging situations constructively. Successful learning requires many social skills to develop and maintain the ability to interact effectively with peers and teachers.

Every person needs to experience success in their life. Success creates a sense of self-worth, knowledge that one has something valuable to offer to another person. Through a relaxed atmosphere of acceptance, leisure, recreation, and positive support, COF provides that opportunity for two different, but distinctly similar groups of students.

Center for Disability Services believes that the Circle of Friends Program provides benefits to not only the individuals but to the community as well. These benefits include, but are not limited to:

- improved tolerance
- acceptance of diversity
- reduction in bullying
- improved participation in community
- increase in employable citizens

The Circle of Friends program recently received two (2) generous grants to assist in the success of the program. With the help of the grants and the many years of experience that CDS has with this program, we are very excited the impact that we will have on many students this school year.

Circle of Friends
amandaamyx@centerds.org
Phone: 740.344.2995 ext.237