Social Skills.
We know it is one of the primary deficits cited when a child is diagnosed with Autism.
But what are typical, preschool social skills?
Young children, ages 3-5, learn how to and engage in cooperation, listening to and talking to a peer, sharing toys (or learning how to), interactive imaginative play, recognizing peer’s emotions and learning to regulate one’s own emotions, and many other foundational interactive skills that they will use in school, and eventually as adults.
It is very important to learn these skills at a young age, because they will learn how to collaborate with peers, work in groups, regulate emotions, and children with socio-emotional skills tend to have less disruptive behavior in the classroom and better academic success.
Learning these skills also helps the child form relationships with peers, ie, friendships, can result in less bullying, and being more accepted by peers.
Children that only isolate and do not interact with peers need to learn the necessary social skills to develop relationships, as this builds the foundation for their future interactions with others.
Social skills are not independent play skills. A child may have excellent play and imaginative skills, but zero interactive skills.
Humans are social creatures, we interact daily with others, children play and imagine together. Teaching these skills at a young age is very important.
Just because a child is quiet and ‘good’ and playing alone, does not mean the child has social skills.
