Who knew that being a good friend could improve your child’s academic skills? Well, sort of, but there are some very good reasons that your child’s speech language pathologist intertwines academic work, social skills and language tasks into her sessions: all of these skills are communication based.
According to Kavale and Forness (1995) 75% of students with learning disabilities display some difficulties in social skills. How does that happen? You’ll find some of these answers in Carol’s recent blogs on friendship, but for now, think about how the following skills are necessary for social and academic success:
· Asking for help: Can your child recognize when he needs help? Can he formulate a question? Can he alter his word choices and body language for his teacher vs. his parent vs. a peer?
· Making inferences: Can your child “read between the lines” to comprehend unwritten rules of social interaction? Can she deduce what the author does not explicitly say?
· Identifying main ideas: Can your child contribute to a conversational topic not of his choosing? Can he read the clues in the room to figure out what is going on? Can he differentiate the main idea of a paragraph from the individual facts? Can he develop a written paragraph that supports a topic sentence?
· Making associations: Can your child develop, and expand a topic of conversation? Can she empathize with a friend because of similar experiences? Can she compare works of fiction, characters, or plots?
· Vocabulary/word retrieval: Is your child able to rapidly respond to questions or participate smoothly in group conversations? Can he answer questions immediately when called on in class? Can he summarize a passage, integrate his word choices with his sentence structure, and logically develop an essay?
If that has your head spinning, allow me to share one of my favorite findings: several studies published in journals such as Science, Scientific American, and Social Cognitive & Affective Neuroscience revealed that after reading from literary fiction, subjects performed better on tests measuring empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence. Furthermore, participants who were given popular fiction or nonfiction did not perform as well on the tests! In case that isn’t clear, works by Charles Dickens will help with social skills; those by Agatha Christie, not so much. The heart of this former English major beats with glee. Because literary fiction focuses on characters and their relationships, the reader must examine their intentions and motivations. This awareness carries over into the real world. Literary fiction also teaches us about values and the importance of understanding those who are different from ourselves. Popular fiction, on the other hand, is often plot-driven, and nonfiction is fact-based. It’s no coincidence that the children with social skill deficits are often the ones who choose to read non-fiction; it’s the easier choice for them.
I want to leave you with 2 thoughts:
1. Many professionals, including OT’s, SLP’s and psychologists run social skills groups to varying degrees of success; but as Carol mentioned in a previous blog, your child may need intensive language intervention in order to be able to access social skills.
2. Be choosy about what you and your child read. Professionals used to say that it didn’t matter what your child reads, as long as she’s reading. Turns out, that’s not entirely true.
Look for more upcoming blogs on friendships and social communication skills!
LeeAnne Fura, MS, CCC/SLP