POOR SOCIAL SKILLS

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Social skills are a fundamental part of life and the skills learnt in childhood will continue to be crucial to your child’s ability to thrive in childhood, through adolescence and later on into adulthood. Acquiring and learning social skills will affect so many areas of your child’s life, from friendships, family life and the ability to find a partner, to work and career progression, self esteem and overall quality of life.

 

Many children with typical developmental processes automatically learn the unspoken rules governing social interaction and communication. Young children, for example, quickly learn how to make appropriate eye contact and how to respect the personal space of others.

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A child soon learns that if you are in a playground and want a turn on the swing, you have to wait for your turn rather than push another child off the swing. Some children, for whatever reason, do not automatically pick up this social skill and need to be actively taught to take turns. If your child lacks socialisation skills such as this he or she may struggle to fit in with other children. As your child gets older the unspoken rules governing social interaction become more sophisticated and those missing skills become more problematic. The result? As the years pass, the gap between your child and other children grows ever wider.

 

The good news is that age appropriate socialisation skills can be taught to children who lack these. Many children are highly motivated to ‘fit in’, find friends and interact with others. Even children who have little or no motivation to interact socially can be taught these skills. Verbal Behaviour is becoming widely recognised as the most successful way of equipping children, teenagers and even adults with the tools to learn new social and communication skills.

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Our team of highly trained Behaviour Analysts and Psychologists will work with your child and family, identifying the missing skills and designing a programme of intervention to teach these skills to your child. No two children are the same and every child will have different struggles, skills and motivations; this means that the programme we design for your child will be highly tailored to their individual needs. Our whole family approach will ensure that this programme also takes into account your family situation and the unique challenges and opportunities facing your family.

 

Some children progress rapidly in acquiring and developing social skills that they previously lacked. Many children go on to socialise and communicate so effectively they become indistinguishable from their peers. Whilst this is not possible for all children, even those with very severe struggles can be equipped with the tools to interact effectively, enabling them to make considerable gains and reach their potential.

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The results you can expect will vary according to a number of factors. This includes the nature and severity of your child’s struggles, as well as his age and circumstances. Your involvement as parents is crucial to the success of the interventions - your commitment to implement these recommendations day in day out will ensure that your child makes optimum progress.

 

Following an in depth assessment and observation of your child we will discuss the results you can expect to see, along with the time scales and costs involved for successful implementation. Whether your child’s programme lasts one month or one year, you can rest assured that we’ll be with you every step of the way, equipping you with the knowledge, training and support to make it work.

 

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