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87 %u00a9 Elklan Training Limited 2025Elklan Supporting Gestalt Language Processing %u2013 a Total Communication ApproachA positive interaction group is an alternative way to using conventional social skills, and these can take place in an education setting. The intention is to provide an opportunity to have fun and share common interests with others. The children and young people are paired or grouped where they have shared interests, and the group members can be from across different school year groups. They can contribute ideas to the planning of the groups and the activities available. By mixing with others, they have a natural way to build their communication skills, social interaction, cooperation, engagement, negotiation, sharing and joint problem solving.The group members should lead the group, and they might name their group e.g. %u2018Our XX Group%u2019 where XX is the name of their shared interest.Structured Positive Interaction GroupsLegoff%u2019s LEGO%u2122 based therapy (2014) has been widely adopted in schools as a way to promote social interaction and communication. The therapy can work when the children and young people are motivated by LEGO%u2122. The same design and structure of LEGO%u2122 therapy groups can be adopted to form groups with an alternative motivating interest.To set up a group there can be a minimum of two children and young people with the supporting adult acting as the third group member. The group can be up to six members where there would be two groups of three children or young people.To set up the group;%u2022 Select the known area of interest shared by all the group members%u2022 Assign three titles for three jobs to fit in with the subject%u2022 Assign roles for each job%u2022 Provide additional visuals to support understanding of the roles%u2022 Find a suitable space for running the groups. Ideas of interests and how to assign roles. For example:%u2022 The shared interests are music and bands. The roles are Band Manager, Roadie and Music and Stage Supplier.%u2022 The shared interest is horticulture. The roles are Garden Designer, Gardener and Garden Centre. %u2022 The description of each role needs to be defined and visual cue cards created to outline clearly the tasks for each role. %u2022 Another interest is cooking and baking. The roles are Chef, Sous Chef, and Kitchen Supplier.