S EMINAR U NIT 8

We have learned in this class that developing healthy peer relationships is critical for the normal development of a child. Peer relationships have been found to be an important predictor of positive adult adjustment and behavior.

Difficulty in finding friends leads to feelings of low self-esteem and these feelings usually continue into adulthood.

Children with disabilities can sometimes encounter great difficulties making friends.

Children with disabilities can have successful social relationships with their typically developing peers.

A study by Odom et al. (2002) found that although children with disabilities were rejected more than their typically developing peers, about one-third of the children in their sample of 80 were well accepted by their peers.

Those well-accepted children had a number of characteristics and abilities in common. They had effective social skills, had at least one friend, could communicate with and show affection toward others, could engage in pretend play, and were interested in interacting with their peers.

Children who were rejected had a number of characteristics in common as well. These children lacked effective communication and social skills, were disruptive, came into conflict with other children, and were often physically aggressive.

Having at least one friend is important for children with disabilities for several reasons. According to Buysse (2002), friendship provides children with the potential for enhanced cognitive and language development as well as social and emotional benefits. Buysse (2002) noted that these benefits are “an increased capacity for understanding another’s perspective, the ability to regulate one’s emotions, and a general feeling of well-being and happiness” (p. 18).

About 5 percent of school-age children are affected by ADHD. Symptoms include a short attention span, poor organization, excessive talking, disruptive and aggressive behavior, restlessness and irritability. Children with ADHD often are uncooperative and may make their own rules.

Children with poor social skills are at risk for delinquency, academic underachievement, and school drop out. Even though the inattentiveness, impulsiveness, and restlessness frequently persist into adult life, these problems are of less importance as the child gets older.

The main difficulty that children with certain disabilities encounter as they reach maturity is their inability to interact appropriately with others.

Many children with ADHD tend to be more impulsive and aggressive than other children. Teachers observe that the social interactions of children more often involve fighting and interrupting others. They are more intense than others and sometimes behave inappropriately in social contexts

Children who frequently display aggressive or negative behavior tend to be rejected by their peers.

Children with disabilities have much to contribute to relationships-- enthusiasm, creativity, energy, and humor.

Research has shown that an effective comprehensive social skills training program arguably has the greatest positive single influence for greatest outcomes.

Social skills may be viewed differently because of are generally categorized into three types: 1. overt interaction skills 2. social -cognitive skills 3. self-control skills

O VERT -I NTERACTION S KILLS ARE DISCRETE OBSERVABLE SOCIAL BEHAVIORS Examples are: sharing self-disclosure complimenting others negotiating accepting criticism disagreeing introducing people resisting peer pressure

Cognitive Social Skills are thinking skills that are applicable to a variety of social situations and that lead to or influence overt social behavior. Examples are: defining a problem clearly goal setting alternative solution thinking step-by-step planning perspective taking/ empathy identifying social pitfalls consequential thinking

Social Self-Control Skills are a combination of overt social skills and cognitive skills that help prevent an individual from displaying aversive or anti- social behavior. Examples are: delay of gratification anger, impulse, and aggression control emotional self-awareness self-talk self-monitoring

S OCIAL S KILL M ECHANICS Gestures Fiddling Gross body movements Smiling Appropriate head movements Eye ‑ contact Predictability of responses Attention feedback responses Amount spoken Interruptions Questions asked Initiations Latency of response

I T ’ S NOT JUST WHAT YOU SAY … IT ’ S HOW YOU SAY IT. 7% of the message is communicated with the actual words 38% of the message is communicated in the tone of voice 55% of the message is in body language

So what happens if you don’t recognize or understand body language and tone?

T EACH S OCIAL B EHAVIOR L IKE A CADEMIC S KILLS Teach through multiple examples including modeling Teach where the problems are occurring Give frequent practice opportunities Provide useful corrections Provide positive feedback Monitor for success

L EARNING D ISABILITIES & S OCIAL S KILLS -- P OSITIVE T RAITS T HAT O THER K IDS L IKE ” R ICHARD L AVOIE Smiling and Laughing Greet Others Extend Invitations Converse Share Give Compliments Good Appearance