I can't believe we are almost at fall break! The first two months of school have flown by. I have enjoyed getting back into the swing of things and helping your children become better communicators and learners!
This month's focus is on social communication. Children can have varying levels of difficulty with social interaction. These difficulties can manifest themselves through emotional breakdowns, communication breakdowns, limited communication, or avoidance during conversational opportunities. At times, social skills have to be explicitly taught to children. Here are some activities in which your children can learn social skills: 1. Social stories-create basic stories that help children understand how they are supposed to interact in school (or home) situations. I have worked with families and/or teachers on creating social stories for transitions to and from school, appropriate behavior in the lunchroom, how to start a conversation, etc. Social stories are available for your review, or you can create your own! Contact me if you have questions about what social stories would best fit your children. 2. Have them involved in small group activities-some children just need more opportunities (with some guidance from adults) on how to interact with others. Having your children in school clubs, religious groups, or sports teams can help provide communication opportunities outside of the school and home settings. 3. Read books with your children-at times, children don't interact appropriately because they need to enhance their vocabulary development. Reading books, defining words, and introducing them to new words can help maximize their vocabulary acquisition of age (and grade) appropriate vocabulary terms. 4. Ask open-ended questions with your children in conversation-children need more opportunities to converse utilizing a higher level of thinking. Consistently asking concrete questions (i.e. yes, no, what, where) makes it more challenging for children to engage in multiple conversational turns. 5. Limit technology-social skills are difficult to teach through technology. Our children can utilize technology for a variety of learning opportunities and needs, but it's difficult for children to learn social skills through technology. Social skills are best taught through conversation and interaction. Please contact me at [email protected] with questions! Have a great fall break. |
AuthorMy name is Lori Shores, and I am a speech-language pathologist that works in the Bartlett City Schools. Archives
April 2018
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