Social skills (also referred to as pragmatic language skills) can be broken down into two broad areas – verbal and non-verbal.
Verbal skills include:
- Greetings and farewells
- Interrupting appropriately
- Asking for help
- Conversation skills such as starting and ending, changing topics, maintaining and repairing conversations
- Joining a group or joining in play
- Making and keeping friends
- Tone of voice
- Tact
- Negotiating and Compromising
Non-Verbal skills include:
- Eye contact
- Turn taking
- Sharing
- Making and recognising facial expressions
- Body language
- Flexible thinking
- Empathy and perspective taking
Social skills are best worked on in small groups* with same-aged peers, but individual therapy may be considered.
*Availability of groups will depend on the level of interest at the time. Ideal numbers per group are 4-6 children placed with same or similar aged peers.