Leap into Dance is a capacity building program that develops and increases social and community participation skills for participants that have a risk of social isolation due to their poor social skills. We do this through interest-based mediums of dance sessions, dance performance and mindfulness sessions. Our program builds the participants’ social skills and independence to interact with their peers to form meaningful relationships within their community.

Our program has been developed with capacity building at the forefront with ongoing consultation from an NDIS registered Occupational Therapist. It is aligned with the recommendations made by the NDIS Research and Evaluation Branch in May 2022 about “Interventions to improve social, community & civic participation of adults on the Autism Spectrum or living with Intellectual or Psychosocial Disability”.

We develop social participation through:

• Developing individual interests to further capacity to engage with peers
• Skilled and qualified teachers
• Development of resources to develop social connection such as: visual stories, visual schedules, other visual tools, positive reinforcement systems, conversation cards and prompts to aid interaction
• Monitoring of participation in the group and documenting the progress
• Evolving strategies to further develop connection – including discussion with consulting Occupational Therapist Lee Frances
• Adapting of the program structure to suit the participants interests and development
• Community engagement opportunities through performances
• Increasing confidence to interact with peers
• Development in skills to stay focused and participate in a group
• Building of self-regulation to safely interact with peers
• Reducing anxiety and stress around peer interactions and in social events
• Upskilling support workers to provide consistent support and engagement for the participant to engage in social connection
• Being a part of multi-component intervention (eg. with psychologists or speech pathologists) by providing participation focused support and opportunities

For more information head to our Program Info Page