You Can Help Your Special Needs Child Learn Important Social Skills

Did you know that, as a parent, you can help your special needs child learn important social skills? It’s true. Many parents take children with special needs to various health care professionals, such as occupational therapists, to help them learn much needed social skills. While it’s always wise to seek therapy that is advised, parents can also teach children with special needs some social skills at home. Are you ready to help your child learn how to behave in social situations?

Children with certain disabilities have trouble with social skills.

Some disabilities can make social skills tough to learn. Although it can be hard for kids with certain disabilities to practice social skills, it is possible for them to do so, and even to have fun in the process. You can help your child learn these skills — here are a few things you can do to help:

Eye contact – Have a staring contest with your child to teach him or her to maintain eye contact with others. This can turn into a fun “competitive” game that you and your child can play together. If eye contact is too much, try having your child look at your forehead when speaking to you.

Facial expressions – Did you know that you can teach your child to “read” the facial expressions of others? To do this, take turns acting out different emotions with your son or daughter. You could also create your own board game. Make a board with different facial expressions, and then create some cards with those same expressions. Have your child match the cards to the corresponding facial expressions on the board.

Conversation – To assist your child in staying on topic (conversationally), choose a specific idea to discuss. Make this into a game and see which of you can stay on topic the longest.

How did your child learn social skills?

Did your child with disabilities have to learn certain social skills? Did you help teach him or her those skills? If so, please leave a comment on this blog post and let us know the methods you used to teach your child with disabilities how to behave in social situations. Thank you for your input.

Sources:

http://www.friendshipcircle.org/blog/2011/03/28/12-activities-to-help-your-child-with-social-skills/
http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/812987/games-that-develop-social-skills-in-special-needs-kids