Friendship Builders
Social Skills Groups & Speech Therapy in Newport Beach, CA
Building social skills, confidence, and lasting friendships, while also offering expert speech and language therapy to support communication development.
Why Choose Friendship Builders?
Social Struggles are Common
Whether you are searching for social skills groups in Newport Beach or specialized speech therapy in Orange County, finding the right environment for your child or teen is the first step toward lasting flexibility, social awareness, and self confidence.
If your child or teen has difficulty making friends, joining conversations, or navigating peer dynamics, our expert speech therapists near Newport Beach are here to help. Many children and teens need extra support to understand and navigate social nuances. With the right guidance, these essential life skills can be learned, opening the door to meaningful, lasting friendships.
At Friendship Builders, we provide supportive, structured therapy designed to help children and teens build the communication and social skills they need to thrive at school, at home, and in their community. We strive to create a warm, organic, welcoming environment where every child feels safe, comfortable, and truly at home.
Who Can Benefit?
Children and teens who…
-Struggle with back-and-forth conversation
-Feel shy, anxious, or insecure socially
-Siblings struggling with sibling rivalry
-Have autism, ADHD, or language delays
-Need support navigating relationships and reading the room
-Have difficulty making or keeping friends
At Friendship Builders, we provide supportive, structured therapy designed to help children and adolescents thrive. Our targeted programs across the region include:
Social Skills Groups
In Newport Beach, our social skills groups for children focus on building foundational play skills, cooperation, and positive peer interactions. For teens, we offer specialized groups centered on complex social problem-solving, perspective-taking, and self-advocacy to support success at school and beyond.Speech Therapy Services
We also provide comprehensive telehealth and in-person speech therapy. Our individualized speech and language services are designed to strengthen communication skills, build confidence, and support each child’s unique developmental goals.Whether you are looking for a speech therapist for social skills in Newport Beach or a specialist for Dyslexia, Stuttering, or Childhood Apraxia of Speech, Friendship Builders offers the professional expertise your child or teen needs to thrive at school and at home.
How Friendship Builders Helps
At Friendship Builders, we offer personalized social skills therapy designed to help children and teens build friendships, confidence, and meaningful connections. Whether your child needs support reading social cues, joining group activities, or managing impulsive behaviors, we offer boutique, expert care designed to foster meaningful, real-world success.
1. Social Skills Group Therapy
Our therapist-led social skills groups in Newport Beach provide a supportive, natural, and organic space for real-time peer practice. These groups are essential for children, teens, or siblings who struggle to make friends, read the room, and feel confident entering a new environment.
Evidence-Based Programs: We utilize proven frameworks such as Floortime (Greenspan) and the PEERS (UCLA) program to facilitate social awareness and emotional growth.
Targeted Skill Building: We help children and teens master emotional regulation, impulse control, frustration tolerance, and flexible thinking.
Comprehensive Peer Support: Our group therapy for children and teen social skills address common hurdles like difficulty taking turns, policing peers, and navigating the "hidden rules" of social interaction through pragmatic language therapy.
Regional Reach: We offer social skills therapy for children and teens in Orange County, with groups conveniently serving Irvine, Costa Mesa, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Beach.
2. Individual Speech & Language Therapy-Telehealth or In-Person
For children requiring focused, one-on-one intervention, Molly Stuckey provides specialized speech therapy either via telehealth or in person in Newport Beach. Her specialized therapy focuses on the clinical and functional aspects of communication and literacy.
Articulation & Phonology: Working with a pediatric speech therapist in Newport Beach to ensure your child can express themselves clearly.
Language Development: Targeted support for delayed language, including both receptive, expressive, and pragmatic language delays, helping children understand others and share their own thoughts and feelings.
Dyslexia Therapy: Evidence-based reading and literacy instruction (i.e., Lindamood Bell & Orton Gillingham) to improve encoding and decoding.
Myofunctional Therapy: Specialized therapy focusing on oral motor patterns to support proper speech, swallowing, and breathing.
Social Communication: Individualized pragmatic language therapy in Newport Beach to improve topic initiation, maintenance, commenting, and taking turns.
Diverse Needs: Expert care for fluency (stuttering), autism, and play-based speech therapy for our youngest learners.
“His personality was always there… social skills therapy finally helped it shine.”
“We started speech therapy hoping it would help him talk clearer. We never expected it would also change his confidence, friendships, and success at school.”
“Articulation therapy was the reason we started. Social growth is why we’re still so grateful.”
“The biggest surprise after 3 months of social skills was watching our child become more confident and hearing teachers notice it too.”
Let’s Get Started
