Development of Social Interaction Skills

The development of social interaction skills through play will be my focus as I observe and prepare a social story for "N." It would help “N,” to take part in cooperative play and to communicate with other children. The title of her social story will be “I will use my words.”  When I have observed “N” in her classroom, she plays alone and I have not seen her in activities that require cooperation.  Our textbook described the work of Hewett and Taylor (1980) which “described a number o tasks that require at least two children to communicate and cooperate to reach a mutual goal (pp.187-188)” The example they used was “the pan-sorting task” which would be good for “N” because one of her goals is for her to follow directions that involve several steps. This is an activity that I could play with her to teach her this social skill and then on I would ask one of her classmates to participate in the pan-sorting task while she gave the directions (with assistance if needed). On Friday, I will donate an 18 inch Spring Tree with bendable wire branches and 24 ornaments that “N” and two other children can decorate. My role in facilitating cooperative play will include preparation of the space and encouraging the children to describe the different wooden items as they hang them on the tree (a bee, ladybug, gloves, gardening tools, birdhouses, watering cans, and butterflies). This will help with her communication skills and cooperative play skills. Yellow forsythia is now blooming and I will bring in some branches for them to compare living branches and the artificial branches of the tree. In April, I will give donate tiny Easter eggs to hang on the tree after they remove the spring ornaments.

“Children tend to play in ways that are consistent with their cognitive development…3 to 7-year-olds test their understanding of the social world through pretend play (Kostelnik, Whiren, Soderman & Gregory, p. 216).” “N” would benefit from imitating or modeling the behavior of others in the dramatic play center.  When I read the classic work of Parten (1931, pp. 189-190), “Six levels of social participation,” I realized that she prefers to play alone with the doll house in the classroom or with a puzzle at the table.  It would be my goal to see her play with other children primarily in association and cooperatively. Hopefully, I can select objects and games in the classroom that would encourage her to interact with both boys and girls. Her class is made up of typically developing children in the Title I program and children with special needs.

In the dramatic play center, I will donate menus from some of the local restaurants, order pads for ordering, a small apron, children’s size bowl’s and plates,  and free recipes cards from Wal-Mart and Harris Teeter that I found in the produce section. Girls participate more frequently in housekeeping settings, so “Let’s go to lunch and let’s get cooking!” is the play scheme I think she would enjoy. Two girls could be seated at the table in our pretend restaurant and “N” could say, “May I take your order?” and she would be wearing an apron and have a paper pad and pencil to pretend to write their food and drink orders. She would give me the order and I could do the cooking with her help using plastic food (hamburgers and French fries) and kitchen pans.  After we serve them, we will exchange roles and we would “read the menu” and give the waitress our order.  Short sequences of pretend play such as eating or cooking used in combination in dramatic play will be fun for all of the girls (or boys).

A second social skill that “N” could learn within the roles of pretend play is how to demonstrate empathy to others and how to display and read others’ pretend and real emotions.  The play frame would be “A visit to the doctor” because there are a nurse’s outfit and stethoscope in the dramatic play area. “N” could play the nurse and I could play that I was a sick child. I could tell her to check my heart beat, my ears, my throat and  to take my temperature and to give me some pretend medicine for my cough. Then I could ask another girl to pretend to be the nurse and for “N” to be the patient and I would leave the dramatic play area.

References:

Cook, Ruth E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier A. (2004). Adapting Early Childhood Curricula for Children in Inclusive Settings. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. pp. 187-190.

Kostelnik, Marjorie J., Whiren, A.P., Soderman, A.K. & Gregory K. M. (2009). Guiding Children’s Social Development and Learning. New York: Delmar. p. 216.