Chapter15 allen7e

©2012 Cengage Learning.
All Rights Reserved.
Chapter 15
Facilitating Social Development

Social Development
• The Four How’s
– How to Approach
– How to Interact
– How to Deal with Difference
– How to Manage Conflict

Social Skills and Overall Development
• Social skills cannot be separated from
overall development.
• While engaged in a social conversation,
language, physical skills, and cognitive
skills are intertwined.
• Therefore social skills need to be taught
and reinforced to all children.

Defining Appropriate Social Skills
• Appropriate social skills are rules and
expectations prescribed by particular
groups as to how group members will
conduct themselves in private and in
public.

Defining Appropriate Social Skills
(continued)
• The major social skills learned in early
childhood relate to getting along with
others.
• Children need to be provided opportunities
to interact with peers, adults, and family
members.

Acquiring Social Skills
• Temperament and emotions
– Three main types:
• Easy
• Difficult
• Slow to warm up
– Emotions are felt, but reactions to the
emotions are learned.
– Appropriate responses to an emotion need to
be taught.

Acquiring Social Skills (continued)
• Social reinforcement
– Adult responsiveness
• This refers to how an adult responds to a young
child’s needs.
• If the response is immediate and appropriate, then
the child and the adult are satisfied.
• If the response is delayed or inappropriate, then
the child becomes mistrustful and wary of the
environment.

• Impact of developmental problems
– Infants who do not respond in the typical
sense with smiles, coos, or eye gazing often
are not stimulated by the caregivers to
express emotion.
– Overstimulated children tend to withdraw and
turn away from caregivers’ show of emotion.
– Over responding children cannot control their
responses and often turn a caregiver off
emotionally.

• Social skills in sequence
– Attachment
– Joint attention
– Separation protest
– Fear of strangers
– Stranger anxiety
– Theory of mind
– Pretend and role-playing

– Role of early learning programs
• Initially it begins as one-on-one time.
• It progresses to small group activities.
• Then we introduce circle time.
• Children are given opportunities to share ideas.
• Children learn not to interrupt each other.
• Older children become aware of turn-taking and
waiting for a turn.

• Play
– Other children are seen as obstacles and not
playmates
– The “Mine” stage
– Independent interacting toward a common
purpose
– Cooperative stage
– Friendships

• Teaching children to play
– Arrange for children to be near each other.
– Physically guide them into the play.
– Give them materials to stimulate play.
– Place objects in their hands.
– Verbalize actions.
– Rejoice.
– Help others join in.

– Provide social reinforcement.
– Move the child toward a group.
– Teacher slowly removes herself from the play
experience.
• Gentle insistence
– Teacher gently prods a child into participating
in an activity.

• Incidental social learning
– Explain the differences in a positive light.
– Answer questions honestly and openly.
– Use simple words the child can understand.
– Assure the child that the disability is not
“catchy” and it is okay to touch and ask.

– To encourage incidental social learning:
• Move closer to the children playing.
• Smile and encourage play with all children.
• Bring new materials to the interaction.
• Make encouraging comments, keeping the play
going.

• Sharing and turn-taking
– A difficult concept for children because they
have to give up what is theirs to meet the
needs of someone else
– Self-assertion
• Teach children to stand up for what is theirs and
not let others just take from them.

• Materials and equipment
– Provide multiple materials in areas where
more than one child can play at a time.
– Encourage imitation by providing two of some
toys.

• Imitation and modeling
– Arrange the environment to ensure that
interactions take place.
– Reinforce the children for playing together.
– Reinforce imitation of appropriate behaviors.

Teacher-Structured Peer Interactions
• Create activities in which all children must
participate for the game to work.
• Discovery play sets up the activity for the
children to engage in and work together.

(continued)
• Peer tutoring and peer mediating
– Children who are typically developing are
given a chance to explain a new idea to a
peer.
– Mediation is done to keep children engaged.
– Children with disabilities get the chance to
play with others.
– Teachers provide support and
encouragement.

(continued)
• Peer tutoring
– The child with the disability learns from the
peer.
– The peer is given a chance to refine and
master a skill.

(continued)
• Additional ways teachers can structure
and facilitate learning:
– Choose stories that focus on character
development.
– Practice manners.
– Seat children close to appropriate models at
circle time and large group activities.
– Provide group projects.
– Initiate a buddy center.

(continued)
• Fair play
– Rules in the classroom are for everyone.
– No one child should be allowed to break rules
because of his or her disability.
– Encourage rule-following and reward
appropriate behaviors

(continued)
• Sometimes more intervention is needed
– If a child is hesitant or overwhelmed by the
classroom:
• Provide a quiet small group area for the child to
practice social interaction.
• Give the child time to practice with the teacher
before engaging another child.
• Offer suggestions and play materials that the child
can use independently to encourage others to play
with him or her.

Chapter15 allen7e

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