Chapter 9

Acquiring appropriate social skills is a life proficiency that all young children need. The early childhood classroom is the ideal place to begin these lessons. Utilizing socially acceptable behaviors from an early age sets the stage for later success in school, life, and the workplace. This chapter will review the rationale behind direct instruction of appropriate behaviors across settings as well as what to do when atypical or aberrant development is noticed. Examples of techniques useful for directly teaching socially appropriate behaviors and eliminating challenging social behaviors will also be presented. In addition, information will be provided on how to determine whether a child’s behavior is in need of more substantial long-term supports to make them successful.

  • Describe how social behaviors are typically acquired.
  • Discuss some of the different types of inappropriate socializations that are often seen among young children.
  • Describe in detail some strategies that can be used to promote appropriate socialization skills among young children.
  1. Parallel play This is when children play in close proximity to each other but do not interactively play with each other.
  2. Baiting the environment This is when the environmental arrangement is designed to elicit desired behaviors.
  3. Discriminative stimulus This is a stimulus that cues the learner that reinforcement is available for a particular response and not for others.
  4. Discrete trial training DTT is a method of teaching where a very specific discriminative stimulus is provided and a specific response is quickly reinforced. This method usually involves numerous trials conducted in a short period of time.
  5. Bully This is a term used to describe an individual who is exerting power over another individual through intimidation (physical or verbal) in an attempt to gain control over the other person, coerce them to do something, to impart some reign over the other person’s current peer status, self-esteem, or psychological well-being.

www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/autism/detail_autism.htm

www.kidsmentalhealth.org/children-conduct-disorder-oppositional-defiant-disorder-odd/

Camargo, S. P. H., Rispoli, M., Ganz, J., Hong, E. R., Davis, H., & Mason, R. (2014). A review of the quality of behaviorally-based intervention research to improve social interaction skills of children with ASD in inclusive settings. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 44(9), 2096–2116.

Wang, S. Y., Cui, Y., & Parrila, R. (2011). Examining the effectiveness of peer-mediated and video-modeling social skills interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders: A meta-analysis in single-case research using HLM. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 5, 562–569.

Social emotional health is akin to physical health in terms of the role it plays in school readiness and school success. Just as a healthy breakfast keeps children nourished throughout the day so that hunger does not interfere with learning, having a solid understanding of social skills keeps a child sustained and ready to focus on academics and the obstacles of the real world. Teachers should never underestimate their role in teaching social skills nor should they underestimate the importance of taking classroom time to devote to the social and emotional health of young children.

Over the years, peers will become more and more important. Acquiring the necessary ability to navigate social situations and the ability to be a contributing member of a team are both very valuable skill sets. On the flip side, being able to recognize when to remove oneself from potential settings with negative outcomes is a potentially life-saving talent. Early childhood is the time to begin learning these lessons, acquiring the skills, and testing out situations and potential dilemmas. These can be taught through the use of role play, modeling, and direct instruction. These critical years serve as the foundation for years down the road when parents and teachers are not present to jump in and fight the battles for them, scoop up the child who now outweighs them, or put the intimidator in time-out. If, as the teacher, you consider teaching life lessons as opportunities to educate children then, at the end of the day, you can state with confidence that you helped this young generation develop cognitively, emotionally, and socially.