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September, 2006
Speech & Language Tip
of the Month
Encouraging
Good Social Skills
Social skills (pragmatic language) are crucial to
language as we interact with others. Saying “hello”
to a friend or looking at someone when they call
your name may come naturally to you, but to some it
must be learned. Good social skills should be
implemented everyday in almost every situation a
child encounters. It is important that you as a
parent understand this area of language to better
help you work with your child to improve their
social skills. Below are some ideas to help you
teach your child appropriate social skills:
Recommended Social Skill Goals:
·
Eye
contact
·
Greeting “hello”/ “bye”
·
Using a person’s name when talking to them
·
Personal space
·
Taking turns
·
Waiting patiently
·
Asking for assistance
·
Offering assistance
·
Initiating a conversation
·
Praising others
·
Active listening
·
Following directions
Address
one goal at a time.
It might be a little too overwhelming for your child
to address multiple goals at once. Choose one goal
to concentrate on so your child will learn the skill
and know what is expected of him/her. You might
want to work on one goal per week and cycle through
the goals that your child needs to work on.
Be
consistent.
Anytime a situation arises that your child can
practice using good social skills, they should. You
can help by guiding them through the process. Here
is an example using the goal of “greeting”.
You and your child Jimmy walk into
his class and see his teacher Mrs. Smith. Guide
your child to the teacher, bend down to your child’s
level and say one of the following options “Jimmy,
say hello”, “Jimmy say hello to Mrs. Smith” or
“Jimmy there is Mrs. Smith, what should you tell
her?” depending on your child’s level.
Give
lots of praise.
Anytime your child attempts using good social skills
(prompted or not) give them lots of praise. This
can be verbal praise (“great job”, “super”, “you did
it”), physical praise (hugs, high fives, shoulder
pat) or visual praise (sticker chart, reward chart,
token system)
Reflect on the situation.
After your child practices his/her social skills,
stop and talk about what happened, and how he/she
made a good choice. Here is an example.
“Jimmy I love the way you told Mrs.
Smith hello today. That was really nice. You made
a great choice. I’m so proud of you.”
“Jimmy, remember when we went to your class today and you
saw Mrs. Smith? What did you say to her?...That’s
right you said hello to her. We say hello when we
see someone we know. That was really nice. You
made a great choice. I’m so proud of you.”
Sincerely,
Meredith B. Sorokwasz M.A., CCC-SLP
Speech Language Pathologist
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