About Elijah Social Cognitive Skills Centre
PROSCIG©
The Elijah Centre is a specialist provision for children, toddlers and adolescents, who display mild social communication difficulties, social sensory sensitivities, ADD and ADHD. Typically, these individuals display cognitive delays, challenging behaviours, and emotional and self-regulation challenges. PROSCIG© – Social Cognitive Intervention Program in peer groups is a therapy which is taken place in Groups of Pairs in Social Networks, with a therapist (Elijah, 2013).
The program is based in Northwest London and internationally across the world and implements a social-cognitive approach, with an individualised and holistic framework involving all areas of child development. The PROSCIG© program is an approved scientific, clinical and educational program (Validated in 2013) which consists of the following three modules: social solving problem; social perception and self-regulation/executive function. Pro Dr Elijah’s viva voce was Professor Andrew Tolmie, Dean of the Doctoral School at the Institute of Education at the University of London.
What is PROSCIG©?
PROSCIG© is a unique intervention made up of a series of structured activities and exercised designed to improve a child’s social communication skills.
PROSCIG© is a generalist intervention program, divided into three modules of socio-cognitive collaborative learning
Social Perception: concerns the ability to absorb, understand and correctly interpret the meaning of information that comes from the psychosocial context and the interaction with peers; it is the basis of social interactions and consists of forming impressions about others; how we perceive situations is related to social groups of the individual.
Social Problem Solving: consists in the identification of the existence and nature of a psychosocial problem, in determining objectives in each situation, creating alternative possible responses within the group, preventing of possible consequences, choosing the response likely to lead to positive results and in the planning and execution of the chosen response.
Self-Regulation: Self-regulation is an active process by which a person’s impulses are managed and controlled by creating techniques for impulse control, behaviours and motivation, to achieve these goals.
Executive Functioning: Executive functioning skills are the cognitive processes that enable students to plan, focus attention, remember instructions, and juggle multiple tasks successfully. These skills are essential for academic success and beyond. Teaching these skills involves strategies to enhance organisation, time management, and goal-setting. For instance, using planners, breaking tasks into manageable steps, and setting SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) are practical ways to cultivate these abilities. As students master these skills, they gain confidence in their ability to handle complex tasks and challenges.
PROSCIG© intervention takes place in the following groups
- 1-1 Sessions
- Academic Support
- Advanced Early Intervention
- Coping in Secondary School
- Early Intervention
- Emotional Awareness
- Executive Functions
- Handwriting
- Independant Skills
- Life Skills
- Neurodiverse Girl’s group
- Physiotherapy
- Playground skills and Navigation
- Prelinguistic
- Sessions for parents
- Social Awareness Behaviour
- Social Language
- Social Problem-Solving Programme
- Technological Skills
- Transition to High School
What makes PROSCIG© unique is it aims to create new strategies for social problem solving, concerning such problems that arise in the educational, home and community environment, as well as reconfigure social roles, social identity, self-esteem and self-confidence of these individuals in a social-emotional process, establishing a new social identity of the group, which will resize self-confidence, assertiveness, self-esteem and even raise the level of cooperation within the group, another unique aim is that PROSCIG© works on building and exercising the plasticity of the individual brain and breaking the paradigm of the brain, creating neurone connections as they learn new things and concepts. PROSCIG© reproduces changes in psychosocial behaviour that are durable and strengthen the psychosocial interaction.
Another unique point for PROSCIG©, is that it takes into account cultural issues, PROSCIG© targets skills which are selected according to what is culturally appropriate. Group leaders aim to maximize the participation of all group members and including targeting specific behaviours in young people, and to develop their own thinking rationale for cognitive skills. In order to ensure a long lasting improvement in psychosocial functioning, for some people a few weeks of intervention may not be enough, in these cases the training of social skills is prolonged for months. In order to produce changes, intensifying the sessions will facilitate the maintenance of learning, In some children the social skills program (PROSCIG©) should be conducted in an uninterrupted manner day by day, and not limited and brief clinical sessions.
Teachers, parents and peers should play a role in psycho-social skills training both inside and outside the intervention sessions, in order to provide cues to reinforce psychosocial responses.
The most important aim of PROSCIG© is to empower families and individuals, to fulfil their full potential in life.
Articles & Scientific Publications
Effectiveness of PROSCIG© intervention program in building interaction and cooperation at the socio-cognitive level through activation of mental schemas and cognitive plasticity.
Professor Elijah's book The Social Cognitive Mind in Promoting Psychosocial Competences in the Peer Group was published in Portugal in 2014.
Socio-cognitive interaction & children cooperation skills with ADHD – 10th National Congress on Health Psychology (2014)
Elijah, D. & Milton Madeira, J. (2013). Effects of cognitive social intervention for improving social competence and school success in English elementary school children: a case study.
Some of Dr Elijah’s contributions can be seen via ResearchGate
Our History
Professor Dr Debora Elijah, founder of The Elijah Centre, brings an extensive background in clinical cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and autism spectrum research. She earned her PhD in Clinical Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, and Educational Psychology from Fernando Pessoa University in Portugal, with her oral thesis reviewed by Professor Andrew Tolmie, Dean of the Doctoral School at the Institute of Education, University of London. Her journey in neuropsychology began with a Master’s degree from the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium, under the supervision of Professor Jean Costermans, Dean of Psychology.
Dr Elijah’s specialised training in autism spectrum disorders took place at the Centre for Training in Autism in Antwerp, Belgium, led by renowned Belgian neurolinguist Theo Peeters. This centre is affiliated with TEACCH at the University of North Carolina, a groundbreaking program founded by Dr. Eric Schopler in 1972. During her time in Antwerp, Dr Elijah also served as joint director of Tikvatenu, a centre dedicated to supporting children, young people, and adults with disabilities.
In Brazil, Dr Elijah led impactful research on structured and unstructured environments for autistic children and those with communication disorders, backed by the Brazilian Government. She co-founded CIAPEMA, a research and intervention centre for young, high-functioning children with autism and related communication disorders. She was also a lead researcher in the Process Cognitive Psychology group at the Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul, coordinated by Professor Milton Madeira.
Relocating to the UK in 2000, Dr Elijah continued her work through her private practice and various charities, ultimately creating the PROSCIG© programme. This intervention focuses on social cognitive skills through paired group activities, addressing three core areas: social perception, self-regulation, and social problem-solving.
In 2014, Dr Elijah published her acclaimed book, Brain: The Social Cognitive Mind in Promoting Psychosocial Competences in the Peer Group, establishing her as a thought leader in social cognitive psychology. By 2020, she was appointed Professor of “Autism Spectrum and Alternative Communication” at Fernando Pessoa University, where she also serves as Social Sciences Coordinator. Her role includes delivering lectures within the Autism Spectrum Disorder and Augmentative Alternative Communication Module.
The graduate course at Fernando Pessoa University, which Dr. Elijah coordinates, equips trainees with advanced skills and practices aligned with international evidence-based guidelines, promoting effective and compassionate care for individuals on the autism spectrum and their families.
