Secret Agent Society® (SAS)
Evidence-based social skills course
Solving the mystery of Social Encounters®
This is our go-to course for children with Autism - Social skills and emotional regulation skills turned into a big adventure.
Child Sessions
11 Sessions - 90 minutes per session
Mini-groups - 3 or 4 children
with 1-2 Leaders, on Zoom. Fun!
Parent Sessions
4 Sessions - 120 minutes per session
We'll show you exactly what your child is learning, so you can support those new skills at home.
Next Start Dates:
Note that your child's sessions could be on any day that suits you/your family. Session start times options for 4pm, 5pm, 6pm and more.
Session times are AFTER SCHOOL times on weekdays. Also, we give your family a CHOICE of times - at least 10 session times each week to choose from.
October (2024) Groups:
Pick a weekly session time - beginning:
- Mondays, starting Oct 14 or
- Tuesdays, starting Oct 15 or
- Wednes, starting Oct 16 or
- Thursdays, starting Oct 17
After-school sessions or Evening sessions.
See Our Leaders Showing Course Curriculum
We live it. We teach it. Here's what your child gets from it:
Advantages
Evidence-Based & Effective
Recommended by speech therapists, psychologists and OTs because it works.
Secret Agent Society skills training is a world-renowned, evidence-based program that has helped thousands of children since 2009. Long-term research shows that 3 out of 4 children who complete the course have significantly improved social and friendship skills 12 months later.
After School Sessions
Don't miss out on school.
We've set things up so that your child doesn't have to miss out on school and you don't have to deal with midday appointments. Instead, all sessions are at after-school times in the afternoons or evenings because your child needs routine. We can help that just by scheduling sessions conveniently for you.
No Waiting Lists!
You hate waiting lists and so do we!
Your child needs to learn asap. We have many, many groups and we would rather add more groups than have a waiting list. Every week your child is not learning new skills is a wasted week. We'll do everything we can so your child can start in our next course.
Secret Agent Society® course content
The SAS curriculum trains children in how to:
- Recognise emotions in others
- Recognise their own emotions
- Express their thoughts and feelings in appropriate & calm ways
- Know strategies for handling feelings of anger and anxiety
- Communicate with others in ways that others are open to
- Play with others, using strategies such as taking turns and negotiating
- Handle mistakes, transitions, surprises and unexpected problems
- Strategies for building and maintaining friendships
- Knowing how to deal with day-to-day issues that come up in friendships
- Recognising the difference between playful joking and actual bullying
- Strategies for prevention and handling of bullying and teasing
Secret Agent Society is an innovative social skills program designed specifically for children aged 8-13 with ASD or other social needs. Developed by renowned Clinical Psychologist Dr. Renae Beaumont, Secret Agent Society is utilized by individuals worldwide.
What parents are saying
You are passionate about supporting, encouraging and growing the kids you’re working with. I’m so glad we’ve found you!
Sally J.
Mum of 9 year old daughter, near Melbourne.
Thank you for all your care and support with our son. We are so impressed and grateful for this program. Not to mention the skills he is using daily from it!
Irene
Delighted Mum of primary school son in Sydney.
We feel so blessed that we found you guys. The courses are fun – it’s like the spoonful of sugar that makes the medicine go down. We are doing every course that we can.
K.E.
Mum of 10 year old son
I like it that the courses are so interactive. I can hear my son chatting away and enjoying working with his leaders. We did other courses in the past with other organisations who don’t do that. With other organisations content just seems so boring but my son loves coming to sessions with you.
V.N.
Son has done 3x social skills courses with Amazing Skills.
Case Study - Leon
6 Months after completing the course
This is the first year since starting school (now in grade 3) that Leon has been able to make and maintain a close friendship. He has finally found his “crew” in two other boys in his class. Never before has he played consistently day in and day out with the same kids for a whole semester.
Usually at the end of the year when the teacher asks the students to write down the names of 5 friends they’d like in their class next year he has no idea who to write, but he was so excited to tell me about a month ago “Mum, I already know who I’m going to write down at the end of the year and I can’t wait for school camp. I know exactly who I want in my cabin.”
He is so happy and so are we. He even built the confidence to join a local basketball team at the beginning of the year and made a stack of wonderful friends there too. SAS has been a fantastic use of our NDIS funding and is worth the investment. You are changing lives!
- Ellie and Paul.
Peace-Of-Mind Promise: What if my child needs to pull out?
Your child can:
- Stop doing their course if they need to.
- Switch to a different course if you need to.
- Do ‘catch-up’ sessions for missed sessions.
You won't be billed for an entire course if your child needs to pull out.
Almost every time, our kids/teens find their groove and enjoy their sessions.
If your child needs tweaks, we can switch your child to a different mini-group, modify session times, or even pair them with a different leader.
We understand that sometimes life seriously happens… A death in the family, sudden health issues, parents going through a hard time etc etc.
But rest assured, if it doesn't work out (and it will), you're only billed for the part of the course that your family participated in.
Your child learns how to experience friendships
Your child learns new skills by doing social skills missions as a character in our 'secret agent' game. See a demo here:
Learning is outrageously fun
What makes this course so special is that the secret agent theme helps your child take on the role of a detective to look for clues in how others speak and communicate.
Then, as secret agents, we use those clues to determine what others are trying to tell us and what they may be thinking. For example, your child can learn to use their new ‘Detective’ skills to listen to the volume, speed and pitch of people’s voices during conversations. Then your child can interpret these clues to detect how the other person is feeling.
NDIS Funding Options
Self-managed families & plan-managed families
NDIS funding may be used if the family are self-managed or plan-managed.
Please note that for participants with plan-managed NDIS there may be an out of pocket expense for the family for people on some types of plans.
Which funding categories?
Chat with your plan manager for what is relevant to your situation. It is helpful to know that other families have told us they use these categories:
- Increased Social and Community Participation
- Improved Daily Living
Total program price: $3250 (Covers everything in the course)
The fee covers the following:
- Intake interview & assessments
- 11 x 90 minute child group program sessions (9 weekly sessions and 2 follow up sessions)
- 4 x 2-hour parent group sessions
- Secret Agent Society Software Package.
- Meetings/Communication with your child's school and other providers (e.g. OT, Psychologist, Speech Therapist etc)
- 2x 1-hour Social Sessions in another social skills group (Art/Minecraft/Lego/etc)
Autism-Friendly Learning
- Each session, your child learns a new social skill, broken down into simple steps.
- Your child experiences new skills in a fun way.
- Your child practises new skills in a supported environment.
- Your child plays fun games to discover effective ways to apply their new skills.
- We help your child to try out these skills at home and at school for themselves.
- We collaborate with parents and teachers to create opportunities for the new skills to be used.
Helping Autistic Kids Grow Their Skills
We use a range of Autism-friendly strategies to make it straight-forward for Autistic kids to develop their social skills, conversational skills and teamwork skills. Here’s how we help young people grow their skills in an Autism-friendly way:
- Make routines, rules and social norms clear and specific so our kids don’t have to guess what is expected.
- Break each new social skill down into straight-forward, achievable steps, demonstrate the steps and then create a safe space for learners to practise using those steps.
- Come up with opportunities for kids to use their new skills within the group or at home with a parent/supporter.
- Explain the reasons why these steps work and why the social skill is worth learning and using.
- Using encouragement, humour and sense of team spirit to make learning fun and to build peripheral social skills at the same time.
NDIS Reports Provided
Parents often ask, “Can I please have a report for our NDIS plan review?”
Rest assured, the answer is a resounding "Yes!"
We'll arrange that for you.
No hidden fees - All reporting like this is already built into the standard program fee, so you will not be given an extra fee beyond the usual cost of the program.
Other Programs Loved By Kids & Teens
Here you can find other fun programs that will help your child to enjoy friendships and handle social situations bravely.
Secret Agent Society®
8-12 yr
Secret Agent Society® (SAS) is a fun, evidence-based learning experience, helping your child grow their social skills and emotional regulation skills. The engaging spy-game curriculum helps your child learn to make new friends and keep those friends. Kids can choose to feel happier, calmer and braver. Recommended by Psychologists, OTs and Speech Therapists.
Peers® Social Skills (Teens/Young Adults)
12-28 yr
Peers is an friendly, evidence-based learning experience for teens and young people. Together with a caring “mini-group” of new friends and leaders, your young person learns skills and confidence for social interactions - learning new ways to make friends, keep friends, and thrive in life. Recommended by Psychologists, OTs and Speech Therapists.
Minecraft Teamwork Group
8-15 yr
Each week, your child will enjoy creating and co-operating with other kids. Your child will be guided through teamwork skills, negotiation skills and friendship skills. Each week we build a different Minecraft building project together. Will we build a beach scene, a spaceship, or a theme-park?
Art Friendship Group
8-17 yr
Kids and teens create fun art activities together, with our leaders helping and guiding your child through social skills to make new friends. It’s relaxed, supportive and very social. Each week we have a different art project that we work on together as a team (e.g. a drawing, painting, graphic design etc).
Friendship Hero (Boys) Playground Skills
8-15 yr
Your young man builds on skills he’s learnt from SAS & Peers (Evidence-based social skills courses), targeted for the daily challenges that growing boys face. Your child learns to be more confident, contribute more to interactions with others and how to keep friends. It’s a fun experience, with a focus on playground-style social skills.
“Worth It” (Girls) Friendship Skills
8-16 yr
Your daughter will love learning new social skills, building on the skills she gained in SAS & Peers (Evidence-based social skills courses). In a fun, safe space your daughter learns how to navigate healthy relationships and develop social resilience. She can learn to ‘read the room’, evaluating social settings to drop her social ‘mask’ and shine as herself.
Adventure Team - Role Playing Game
11-25 yr
Social Role Playing - A fun interactive Zoom board-game-like Social Skills learning experience on Zoom. Each session, we learn new social skills and then we apply those social skills as a Pirate, a Space Pilot or a Farmer.
Parent Encouragement Groups
Parents only
Parents who love hanging out and exchanging ideas - What’s working in your family right now, and what is tricky? Let’s learn together. Parent support, ideas & encouragement night are so much fun.
Want to know more?
Is this course right for your child? Get in touch with the team to arrange for your child to get started. It’s a way to start learning about new social skills, making better friendships and enjoying their school experience more.
Social skills can be learned.
We love helping your family thrive.
Supported by the team at Athletic Koala.
Also working alongside Pathway Partnerships.
Site Links
What We Offer
Connect With Us
We are AUSTRALIA-WIDE and even WORLD-WIDE on Zoom.
Office: 18 Wakool Circuit, Kaleen, 2617
hello@amazingskills.com.au