March 2014-Parent Tip on Helping Your Child With Learning Disabilities Have Social Success
One of the things I resonate with on a daily basis is how to help children create social success. Children with social skills deficits may have these deficits because of learning challenges. One may ask; How are these connected? The answer is-they are intertwined. Richard Lavoie, author of It's So Much Work To Be Your Friend: Helping the Learning Disabled Child Find Social Success really underscores just how connected these skills and deficits are connected.
For some reason, many of us feel like most kids "should" have basic social skills. "Zero order skills" are skills that many of us have automatically; staying on the conversation topic, not standing too close to someone, not staring too long at something or someone, or other subtle, non-verbal skills. The video clip is a quick summary of some of the topics discussed in Richard Lavoie's book. If you have a son or daughter who has social skills challenges related to his or her learning challenges, begin social coaching with him or her. Start with a very specific behavior such as giving people personal space or complimenting 3 people during the day. What happens is that by giving them a specific behavior, they actually end up working on many more behaviors related to social success. There are some very good resources for empathy and social coaching. Two of my favorite resources are The Unwritten Rules of Friendship by Natalie Madorsky and Good Friends Are Hard To Find by Fred Frankel.
Whether you are a parent, teacher or loved one of someone with learning challenges who also has social skills challenges, please view the video clip to gain a good understanding of some social skills challenges.
Thanks,
Jennifer Moyer-Taylor
For some reason, many of us feel like most kids "should" have basic social skills. "Zero order skills" are skills that many of us have automatically; staying on the conversation topic, not standing too close to someone, not staring too long at something or someone, or other subtle, non-verbal skills. The video clip is a quick summary of some of the topics discussed in Richard Lavoie's book. If you have a son or daughter who has social skills challenges related to his or her learning challenges, begin social coaching with him or her. Start with a very specific behavior such as giving people personal space or complimenting 3 people during the day. What happens is that by giving them a specific behavior, they actually end up working on many more behaviors related to social success. There are some very good resources for empathy and social coaching. Two of my favorite resources are The Unwritten Rules of Friendship by Natalie Madorsky and Good Friends Are Hard To Find by Fred Frankel.
Whether you are a parent, teacher or loved one of someone with learning challenges who also has social skills challenges, please view the video clip to gain a good understanding of some social skills challenges.
Thanks,
Jennifer Moyer-Taylor