SECRET AGENT SOCIETY (SAS)

The Social space for Children Aged 8-12 Years

The Social Space recruits’ children aged 8-12 years, that have a unique set of skills required to be Junior Detectives in the Secret Agent Society (SAS) small group program. The SAS program was developed by the Social Skills Training Institute, and it is an evidence-based, breakthrough social skills program that helps Junior Detectives improve their social and emotional skills by learning how to crack the code of emotions and friendships. The program consists of small group child sessions, parent and teacher information sessions, digital headquarters (an online platform providing four levels of gamified learning, a Mission Journal for self-reflection on real life practice tasks, a soon to be released multi-user Skill Tracker system, digital E-Telligence Pack and other tools), real-life practice missions and a behavioural system that monitors and rewards skill development at home and at school (Social Skills Training Institute, 2014). SAS was awarded the Autism Spectrum Australia National Recognition Award for the significant and positive impact the program has on the lives of children and families (Social Skills Training Institute, 2014).

​SAS teaches children how to:

  • Recognise simple and complex emotions in themselves and others

  • Express their feelings in appropriate ways

  • Cope with feelings of anger and anxiety

  • Communicate and play with others

  • Understand different types of friendship and choosing appropriate friends

  • Cope with teamwork, games and ‘losing’

  • Cope with mistakes and transitions

  • Build and maintain friendships

  • Solve social problems

  • Detect the different between accidents, jokes and nasty deeds

  • Detect and understanding bullying

  • Prevent and manage bullying and teasing

  • Acknowledge personal strengths and goals

SAS differs from other social skills programs in the following ways:

  • It teaches children fundamental emotion recognition and emotion regulation skills before teaching them social interaction skills

  • Includes step-by-step formulae for targeted social skills

  • Allows for content to be individually tailored to families’ beliefs and cultural values and children’s current skill level

  • Adopts a hierarchical approach to social skill development

  • Uses fun, interactive games, activities, and visual supports to teach children social and emotional concepts

  • Features ready-made resources

  • Designed to maximise children’s application of learned skills to everyday life

  • Uses a self-regulatory framework for skill development

  • Adopts a multidisciplinary approach

  • Scientific and evidence-based

Check out the following video to find out more about the program:

SAS features an animated ‘secret agent’ computer game, helpful thought zapper game, challenger board game, secret message transmission device game and many more games as well as award-winning resources and gadgets to assist the cadets in solving real world social challenges. While Junior Detectives are having fun developing ‘secret agent’ skills, they learn how to recognise and manage their own feelings, cope with change, detect other people’s emotions, talk and play with others and deal with bullying. Once all the codes are cracked, detectives graduate from SAS equipped with the skills to feel happier, calmer and braver while making new friends and keeping them.

The entire program is designed to captivate kids while they learn social skills and emotions in a fun way. According to the Social Skills Training Institute, the evidence-based, structured curriculum and captivating theme make this program one of the most successful of its kind in the world. Parents and school staff are an integral part of the group program and receive resources and support to help their young ‘secret agents’ develop and practise new skills in real-life settings.

For more details on the SAS program go to https://www.secretagentsociety.com/ or download the flyer