ECE 28 CLASS NOTES WEEK 13 The Exceptional Child Inclusion in Early Childhood Education, Sixth Edition Thomson-Delmar Learning

ng Facilitating Social Development Chapter 15 OBJECTIVES Explain how a parent's or caregiver's response to an infant may influence the child's social development. Define Social skills & explain their importance in the development of children who are typically & those that are atypical. Outline the steps or phases that infants & children go through in acquiring social skills. Describe the impact of a serious hearing loss or vision problem on early social development. List at least ten ways a teacher can help children with special needs learn appropriate social skills. KEY TERMS affective contingent stimulation egocentric modeling mutual gaze peer tutoring separation protest social reinforcement SOCIAL SKILLS & OVERALL DEVELOPMENT: Social skills are really never discussed as an independent & separate area of development. Typically developing children help each other to learn. Spontaneous peer reinforcement may not always happen for children with developmental disabilities. DEFINING APPROPRIATE SOCIAL SKILLS: Appropriate social skills are expectations prescribed by particular groups as to how group members will conduct themselves in private & in public. What is appropriate varies from community to community, society to society & culture to culture. Very difficult to specify what is "appropriate." Typical developing children deal with contradictions in social skills by adapting their behavior to the situation. Social skills adaptations tend to be difficult for children with developmental problems. Likely to have trouble learning how to discriminate when a behavior is appropriate & when inappropriate. Major social skills: to be learned during the early years relate to getting along with others. Cultural competence: knowledge of, comfort with, & respect for people of varying ethnic or racial backgrounds. Planning &decision-making skills: the ability to make choices, solve problems & plan ahead. Self-regulation: the ability to monitor self, reflect on feelings, & resist temptation & peer pressure Interpersonal skills: maintaining friendly relationships, & communicating needs, ideas & feelings. Positive self-identity: demonstrating sense of competence, purpose & worth. Social values: exhibiting caring & demonstrating responsibility, honesty & flexibility. AQUIRING SOCIAL SKILLS: Development of social skills, is influenced by home, school, culture, community expectations, & by the interpersonal relations within these environments. A child's emotional reactions or temperament exert influence. Three types of babies: 1) Easy babies tend to be lively but no excessively so 2)Difficult babies are likely to be irritable, easily upset, and vigorously resistant to the unfamiliar 3) Slow-to-warm-up infants show few intense reactions, either positive or negative. All social behaviors are learned; all behaviors can be eliminated and/or strengthened, and/or modified. Social reinforcement; adult responsiveness: Social reinforcement is a factor in determining a child's development. The process of adult reinforcement is sometimes referred to as contingent stimulation. Impact of developmental problems: A responsive early childhood environment cannot guarantee a child will develop appropriate social skills. No fault of parents, caregivers or educators, children with developmental problems often are deprived of stimulation & reinforcement because of their own limitations. Infants who are blind also are at high risk for poorly developed social skills. - They do not engage in the mutual gaze interactions that are crucial to the attachment process between parent & child. Over-stimulation & over-responding may also interfere with an infant's ability to make use of a responsive environment. Overstimulation often occurs among fragile infants (premature & low birth weight). Over-responding often occurs in some instances with an infant with a central nervous system disorder (CNS). Social skills in sequence: First year of life, social responding is directed to parents, siblings, grandparents, & caregivers. If all goes well; affective bonds are established between the infant & significant individuals in the first year of life. Next follows the separation protest, & then a fear of strangers. Stranger anxiety may last until 18 months old or so. Role of early learning programs: Toddlers need opportunities to gain the skills required to be a member of a group. Older preschoolers need to begin to learn how to identify with a group. Play: Through play, children become interested in each other. Next step in development of early social skills comes out of interest in the same materials. "Mine!" Next stage focuses on materials & equipment with some interacting. Cooperative play leads to the next higher order of social skills; that of forming more or less durable friendships.

 Teaching children to play: Typical developing children seem to play spontaneously & effortlessly. Children with developmental disabilities often have fewer play skills. Play behaviors can be taught: Arranging for the child to be near other children in a given activity. Physically guiding the child to a play activity & helping the child settle in. Handing material to the child to establish physical contact. Play behaviors can be taught: Putting an object in the child's hand & moving the hand appropriate to activity. Verbalizing to the child what he or she is doing. Enthusiastic response over the smallest accomplishments. Gradually helping other children join in activities, once the child has acquired a semblance of play. Providing social reinforcement for the play. Moving the child slowly but steadily toward group play by building small groups of two, three, nonthreatening children who participate with the child in simple play. Gentle insistence: Not all children with developmental disabilities are eager to play, nor do they want to be taught to play. Incidental social learning: Brief, positive interactions are occurring between children with & without disabilities such as smiling, moving aside, & handing materials. Can be expanded even further through play activities already in progress. Teachers need to reinforce interaction in subtle ways. Affection or friendship training: Teachers can promote positive social interactions between children with disabilities & those without impairments through affection or friendship training. Sharing & turn-taking: Most difficult skill to learn. Foundation for mutually satisfying play between children. Involves giving up something which is contrary to giving up anything from the child's egocentric view of the world. Gradually reduce the amount of available material is another way to teach sharing. Self-assertion: All children need to learn to stand up for themselves - self advocacy. Important for teachers to find ways to help children with disabilities to fend for themselves. Materials & equipment: Materials & equipment influence children's learning of social skills. Some materials that have proven to be good socializers: - housekeeping & dress-up, unit blocks & hollow blocks, trucks, cars, & airplanes, musical instruments Imitation & modeling: Young children learn many behaviors & skills by watching other children & imitating what they do. Inclusion provides children with developmentally appropriate social behavior models. This does not guarantee that children learn automatically. Teachers promote interactions: Arranging the environment, reinforcing children for playing together, and reinforcing children with developmental problems when they imitate appropriate behaviors. TEACHER-STRUCTURED PEER INTERACTIONS: Teachers make it happen: Decide which children, in which activities, in what grouping. Children with developmental disabilities who are just beginning interactions with other children shouldnt be paired with rambunctious children. Discovery learning promotes social learning through imitation & modeling. Peer tutoring & peer mediating: Teachers pair children carefully to ensure an appropriate match of skills, & temperament. Its important that the child with the disability & the other child enjoy & benefit from the interaction. The child with a disability has the opportunity to learn through play from someone who is a master at play. Child tutors develop positive behaviors & attitudinal changes toward the children with disabilities. Fair play: Children who are developing typically are good models for fair play behaviors expected of Children in early childhood programs. Appropriate & respectful use of materials & equipment. Classroom rules apply to all children - no double standards. A child's inappropriate behavior may not impede others from learning. Children with developmental delays & disabilities need to learn how to get along with others.