[Ex Libris]

Hi,
Does anyone know of some books or other resources that offer practical guidance on how to help kids with social and emotional skills? My ds is 5 and he's somewhere on the high-functioning spectrum (SPD, some OCD, and some spectrum attributes). He's having trouble with socializing appropriately with his peers. He wants to play with them but doesn't know how. For him, playing with kids means chasing each other around, which ends up over-stimulating him.

If he can't play chase, then he starts getting aggressive, throwing things at them, trying to knock down their creations, refusing to share, throwing tantrums when they don't give him a turn or just grabbing things away from them when he wants a turn. He gets excited about kids coming over because he wants them to watch him build his legos, and when they don't want to just sit and watch him build, he gets mad at them (causing all of the above behaviors). He just doesn't seem to know how to play with them.

I'd like to try and help him learn this skill, but I'm not sure how. Are there any books that are helpful with this so I don't have to recreate the wheel? How can I facilitate cooperative play when we get together with other kids?

Thanks, Kelly

 

[sbgrace]

A while back I bought a book called The Social Skills Picture Book by Jed Baker. It's a social skills picture story book basically. http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Teachi...9416840&sr=8-1 You can search inside and see if it might be helpful. I never actually used it but it has good reviews.

Andrew is Andrew and so what works for him might not for anyone else of course. But role playing things have helped my kiddo. And lots pointing out the successes in the role playing setting. I had to search back but I thought you did Nurtured Heart. I've used that to work on some specific, targeted social areas with Andrew. At the beginning I set up role plays with me in the role of the other child. And I drew attention to all the successes in those set ups. It's easier when it is mommy and expected of course. But that led to his generalizing it some and I focused on those successes too. I also nurtured heart approached others kids to draw attention to what they were doing. And that would cue Andrew a bit. I am dealing with some different areas though than you. You still might be able to approach it from that angle. I will say also that it helps him to be dealing with one kid at a time rather than larger grouips.

 

[serenetabbie]

I think Rachelle had some good advice

.

We had picked up Navigating the Social World on the advice of a good friend. It was pretty helpful for us. DS also goes to a social skills group.

 

[Ex Libris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sbgrace A while back I bought a book called The Social Skills Picture Book by Jed Baker. It's a social skills picture story book basically. http://www.amazon.com/Picture-Teachi...9416840&sr=8-1 You can search inside and see if it might be helpful. I never actually used it but it has good reviews. Andrew is Andrew and so I what works for him might not for anyone else of course. But role playing things has helped my kiddo. And lots pointing out the successes in the role playing setting. I had to search back but I thought you did Nurtured Heart. I've used that to work on some specific, targeted social areas with Andrew. At the beginning I set up role plays with me in the role of the other child. And I drew attention to all the successes in those set ups. It's easier when it is mommy and expected of course. But that led to his generalizing it some and I focused on those successes too. I also nurtured heart approached others kids to draw attention to what they were doing. And that would cue Andrew a bit. I am dealing with some different areas though than you. You still might be able to approach it from that angle. I will say also that it helps him to be dealing with one kid at a time rather than larger grouips.

Thanks, I'll check out that book. Yes, we've been doing the Nurtured Heart approach about a week now, with great success. I'm hoping it will bleed over into his relationships with other kids and will lower his aggression. We'll see. I'd never thought about doing some role playing with him. That's a great idea--non-threatening and fun, and like you said I can apply the nurtured heart approach while doing it. I'll also try to keep it to one or two kids at a time (some people we hang out with have two kids, so we'll have to make it work).

Oh, and I wanted to thank you for turning me on to Glasser's book in the first place--I found it from your past posts and it's been nothing short of a miracle for our family.

Kelly

 

[Ex Libris]

Quote:

Originally Posted by serenetabbie I think Rachelle had some good advice . We had picked up Navigating the Social World on the advice of a good friend. It was pretty helpful for us. DS also goes to a social skills group.

Thanks, serenetabbie--I'll check out that one, too. What's a social skills group? Sounds like something we could use!

Kelly