A Clinical Social Skills and Group Therapy Program for Elementary, Homeschooled Kids with ADHD, Anxiety, AuDHD, and Autism on Minecraft
Minecraft Connection Club
Creating an inclusive space for neurodivergent kids who can be loud, impulsive, and quick to react. Building foundational social skills, emotional narrative, and friendships one block at a time.
Social Skills
Kids in this group tend to talk over each other, make an impulsive decision and then realize afterward it didn't work out the way they expected, and can be quick to react. Sessions can get chaotic, plans change fast, and it's not unusual for a build to get blown up mid-session. Victoria turns those same moments into practice for waiting a turn, noticing a social cue, and repairing after a conflict, building life skills like self-regulation, patience, and conflict resolution.
This is a social skills and therapeutic process program. It is not a behavioral support program, and it will not move the needle on bullying behavior.
Enhanced Emotional Narrative
Kids work from a digital workbook that turns a big reaction into language. Homework pages help kids name a big emotion, talk through what led to it, work out how to manage it better next time, and share coping skills that worked for them with the rest of the group. The bigger goal here is for kids to have "me too" moments, realize they aren't alone in how they're feeling, share coping skills that work with each other, and reduce fight-or-flight reactions.
Characteristics of Being a Good Friend
Kids work off a reward system built to boost self esteem and self confidence. Each phase, kids can earn up to 8 digital trading cards for demonstrating specific social skills, and 2 printable awards for showing the characteristics of a good friend. Victoria and peers can both nominate a child for a card or award, so the skill is reinforced by the whole group.
Friendship
Kids join the same consistent peer group each week, building an inclusive kind of comfort that's hard to find elsewhere. Google Meet calls stay open after our scheduled hour, and the private realm is open for kids to play together on weekends, so a friendship built in group doesn't have to end when session does.
Starting in Phase 2, kids complete executive function worksheets that walk them through actually asking a peer to play after hours, turning a nerve-wracking ask into a skill they get to practice and use again.
Is This Your Kid?
Maybe your child walks into a birthday party and forgets to say hello. They can talk easily about a favorite subject, but keeping a back-and-forth conversation going takes more effort. If a game, conversation, or playdate does not go the way they pictured it, they may decide it is easier to walk away and do their own thing.
Compromise is hard. Owning a mistake is hard. Repairing after a disagreement is hard. Remembering to reach back out and ask someone to play again later does not always come naturally.
Or maybe your child is the one who needs to get a thought out the second it enters their head, even when someone else is still talking. They act before thinking, then have to figure out what to do when another child is hurt or upset. They want to include people, but names may not always stick. Big feelings can come quickly, and a small misunderstanding can turn into a much bigger social moment before they know what happened.
For many autistic kids and children with ADHD, understanding a social skill is different from being able to use it when the moment is actually happening.
Minecraft Connection Club is a therapist-led online social skills and friendship skills group for homeschooled elementary students who want more opportunities to practice those skills with peers.
Through Minecraft play, coaching, and consistent group interaction, kids practice conversation, flexibility, compromise, repair, and friendship skills while building confidence alongside peers working on many of the same things.
How parents describe the impact of the program:
Minecraft Is the Setting for Hands On Learning
Minecraft is the learning enviorment that mimics a birthday party, playground recess, lunchroom. It faciliates kids practicing socializing, flexible thinking, compromise and repair in the moment.
It also offers the space and connection for kids to talk about being bullied, masking, diagnosis….
As a teacher and creative arts therapist, I used to have a lot of conversations with kids after something had already happened.
What went wrong? What could you have done differently? Why do you think your friend got upset? What emotion are you stuffing? Did you really mean to do that?
Those conversations can help, but they only go so far. Many neurodivergent children struggle to understand what actually happened. Some may know the skills to use, but using them is a different story…
That is why we use Minecraft.
Kids join a live, weekly Google Meet while playing together in a private Minecraft Realm. The game creates the kinds of social moments that are hard to rehearse on a worksheet. Someone changes the plan. A build gets damaged. A peer has a different opinion. A boundary gets missed. Someone talks over someone else. A disagreement starts.
We work through those moments while they are happening.
Kids practice slowing down, listening, communicating what they need, thinking flexibly, compromising, repairing after a mistake, and staying connected even when play does not go their way.
They also practice the everyday skills that help a group feel respectful and inclusive. Not talking over one another. Not calling each other names. Respecting boundaries. Respecting differences in identity, race, and perspective. Learning that everyone can belong to the same group without having to agree on everything or participate in the same build.
For elementary students, that live practice is reinforced through A digital Workbook, which is completed at home and brought to session. The workbook extends the therapeutic work through creative arts therapy self-expression activities, executive function planning pages, reflection, Show & Tell preparation, and visual tools for understanding social situations. Kids also work on a reward system, earning social skill cards (think Pokemon cards with a Minecraft feel) and Character awards when they demonstrate improved communication skills and qualities that a good friend has. These are used to reinforce self confidence. And for many kids who are also working with an ABA specialist or individual therapist, the workbook and rewards system can be tools that link the therapies together.
I’m Victoria Prisco, a Special Education Teacher and Creative Arts Therapist, and I am present on every call with your child.
The Therapeutic Work Behind the Minecraft Play
The Clinical Work Behind Each Phase
Review each phase to confirm your child has the skills to participate, and that the focus areas match what you're hoping to get out of group.
- Minecraft Club Introduction: a welcome worksheet where kids share their name, set a goal for group, and draw their Minecraft character
- Show & Tell prep worksheet: helps kids plan what they'll bring and share with the group
- Mid-Phase Reflection: a check-in on how group is going halfway through the phase
- Roller Coaster of Emotions: a worksheet for naming what's building up before a big feeling, what it feels like, and what helps them ride it out
- End-of-Phase Reflection: looking back at what they're proud of before moving into Winter
- Show & Tell prep worksheet: helps kids plan what they made and want to share with the group
- Artwork Quest: designing a new Minecraft character and naming that character's social or friendship strength
- Mid-Phase Reflection
- Unlocking the Keys to a Successful Group: identifying what helps them be a strong group member, and a plan for what to do when they get stuck
- Building Your Village: planning how to ask a friend to play after group, including a worksheet for working through the social worry that can come with asking
- Minecraft Me: a feelings check-in and self-expression page for introducing themselves to the group
- End-of-Phase Reflection
- Show & Tell prep worksheet: helps kids plan what to bring that represents who they are
- Artwork Quest: designing an identity banner that reflects their strengths and how they show friendship
- Mid-Phase Reflection
- When Group Pushes My Buttons: identifying personal triggers in group and their own ways to reset
- Level Up Your Self-Care: a self-care and stress management planning worksheet
- Building Your Village: planning to ask a friend to play, and a plan to stay connected with friends after the program ends
- Prickly or Protected: working through social anxiety, boundaries, and brave next steps in group
- End-of-Phase Reflection