WHAT ARE SOCIAL SKILLS AND WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?
Social skills are the skills we use to communicate and interact with others. They include both verbal communication with words and greetings, and non-verbal communication such as gestures, body language, and eye contact.
Social skill is a big part of a child's routine. It helps us connect with others and build meaningful relationships. Many children may master the language basics of greetings, taking turns in conversations, and responding appropriately, however they may still have difficulty making friends, engaging in play with peers, sharing toys, and more.
At OM Therapy we believe that it is the understanding of how our behavior makes others feel that drives us to behave as expected in social situations.
We teach socially accepted appropriate and inappropriate behaviors. This in turn can affect our ability to develop friendships and other relationships, which can affect confidence and self-esteem, and lead to further unexpected behaviors.
An OT can incorporate various techniques to improve your child’s social skills; by teaching, coaching, social groups, community integration and more. Many children make real connections with peers for the first time, and successfully generalize these skills to the playground.
HOW DO I KNOW IF MY CHILD NEEDS HELP?
- Can your child share without prompting, take turns peacefully, and make requests rather than demands during play?
- Do they always act bossy, have trouble really listening to other ideas in play, or need to be in control of the play?
- Does your child seem to have difficulty knowing what’s expected, keeping their brain and body connected to the play, or following the rules of the game?
- Does your child withdraw from group play, preferring to play on their own?
- Does your child make common errors such as ‘blurting’, changing the topic, or not problem-solving conflicts appropriately?
These are common difficulties we see and through task analysis and the medium of play, we can help children identify and improve these skills.