Hannah Lethbridge is an Educational Psychologist, Deputy Headteacher and a mum to two boys. She is also the founder of RocketEd, an Educational Psychology Practice with a commitment to inclusion and ethical practice at its core. Here, she talks about ways that parents can encourage the development of social communication skills in young children.

https://www.rocketed.co.uk/

As things start to edge back to normality, parents are understandably anxious about how the pandemic has affected their young children’s development in many areas. One of the most concerning for parents is the impact on the development of their social communication skills.

The term ‘social communication’ (also known as ‘pragmatic language difficulties’) is a broad term which refers to the way we use language to communicate socially in verbal and written form, as well as our non-verbal communication skills. Those with social communication difficulties struggle to use language in a socially appropriate way and to understand the complexities of social situations. While some people who struggle with social communication may also have difficulty with expressive and/or receptive language, others may not but still find it hard to interact with others and to maintain conversations. Social communication difficulties can present in differnt ways and to varying degrees.

According to a recent study by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), 96% of schools reported that children in Reception were struggling with social communication skills as a result of the pandemic. In addition, technology can negatively impact the development of children’s social communication skills, particularly in their early years. Technology is virtually in every home in one way or another: according to Ofcom, nearly 27 million UK households (almost 95%) have at least one TV in their homes and data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggests that 100% of households with children in the UK have internet access.

Children with social communication difficulties find it difficult to make, maintain and understand friendship. They may not recognise or understand the unwritten rules of interaction, such as tone of voice, use of language, eye contact or proximity to others, or be able to deal with conflict. Their difficulties can also impact on their attainments and educational achievement and can lead to them being frustrated, resulting in low self-esteem and possibly behaviour difficulties.

Bearing in mind the child’s age, a child struggling with social communication might show some of the following difficulties:

Being unable or uncomfortable to look at the speaker, or looking too intensely at the speaker;
Being dominant or passive in conversations, or finding it hard to remain on topic;
Standing too close or too far from the speaker, or being unaware of conventions of personal space;
Having difficulty understanding another person's point of view, or showing limited interest in it;
Struggling to make or maintain friendships, or showing little interest in doing so;
Using language functionally (such as to make requests) but not socially (such as to ask questions about the listener’s views or interests);
Finding it hard to interpret others’ tone of voice, facial expressions or body language.

These skills are central to every aspect of our lives as human beings and are vital to developing relationships, learning with and from others and interacting socially.

Here are 9 activities parents can do to support the development of their child’s social communication skills:

Role play: By acting out social situations the child might encounter, children can learn how other people are likely to respond in different contexts, as well as getting a sense of what other people might think and feel in a given situation.
Using puppets: After watching a modelled situation, the child can watch or take part in a puppet show to begin to experience the feelings of others and learn important social behaviours, conversation skills, and how to use specific strategies in difficult situations.
Encouragement to take part: Some children with social communication difficulties might lack the confidence to join in with things other children are doing, but once over the initial hurdle find that they enjoy it and have much to contribute. Help them to take the first step and join in!
Miming and making faces: Miming activities directly teach how to show feelings through facial expression, and to understand the facial expressions of other people. This can be done by miming scenes from familiar stories showing the six basic human emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust.)
Playing board games: Playing games together can teach children about vital skills of turn taking, rules of the game and appropriate ways to respond if you win or lose.
Stories and speech bubbles: After reading a scene from a familiar story, you can ask the child to draw or write what the character might say in a different social situation. This can help them to think about another person’s point of view and predict how this might impact their reaction.
‘Just a minute’: Ask the children to talk about a particular subject for one minute (or shorter, if this is too long!) is a good way to help them practice keeping to the topic and remaining relevant.
Social Stories (Gray, 1991): This is an evidence-based approach to help children cope with the particular social situations that they find difficult. Parents can seek advice on this approach from an Educational Psychologist.
Comic Strip Conversations (Gray, 1994): This is a well-researched and published approach to help children cope with making choices in certain social situations. Parents can seek advice on this approach from an Educational Psychologist.

Supporting the development of social communication in children