Social relationships from 6 years old
Why are we talking about social relationships in everyday activities? First of all, in order to reach a good level of satisfaction or well-being, we need to have regular relationships and exchanges with our peers.
Through these relationships, the child will develop his or her own image, experiment and integrate social rules. Social skills are essential for a child’s place in society or school. Often, parents talk about a child who is fearful, who stays in his corner, who doesn’t talk much, who isolates himself easily, who doesn’t like to be touched, and who doesn’t share much with others. On the other hand, I am sometimes told that the child is restless, doesn’t stay put, touches everything, doesn’t manage his strength and is inattentive.
It is true that one or more of these characteristics can be found in a child with sensory difficulties. It is common and easy to diagnose a psychological problem in these children. They are sometimes referred to as hypersensitive, but this term is used with a psychological approach. This is sometimes unfortunate, because the sensory-motor domain should be investigated first and thus the quality of the child’s sensory integration process. Social relationships from 6 years old
A sensory problem can lead to maladaptive behaviours which in turn can lead to psychological problems such as lack of self-confidence, fear of others or attention problems. In this section I will discuss personal skills, assertiveness skills and communication skills. Social relationships from 6 years old
Personal skills Social relationships from 6 years old
Behind this term are several skills that the child will develop and learn from a very early age. Indeed, he will first learn to understand the feelings expressed by others. Later, he will be confronted with frustration when he does not manage to catch or get what he wants. When one of his parents says no, he will have to learn to manage his frustration, his anger, but also his stress. Finally, later on, he will develop the ability to adapt in order to choose the right attitude in relation to the responses of his environment.
Assertiveness skills Social relationships from 6 years old
Here the child becomes an actor, because he will have to express himself, but also control himself. For example, he will develop the skills to express his needs in an appropriate way (rules of politeness, communication), to express his feelings, both negative and positive, and finally, he will have to learn to control himself. When we talk about control, it means for example accepting refusal, learning to ask or reacting to malicious behaviour (teasing). If the social rules are for the most part well acquired, it is the management of all this that often come up difficulties. Social relationships from 6 years old
Communication skills
These skills are essential for a good schooling. Indeed, the child will learn to have constructed answers when a question is asked. He will then understand the importance of taking turns, a key concept in game activities, for example. Finally, he will have to develop attentional skills to follow a conversation, a lesson, an exchange or a game. It is easy to imagine that a sensory attainment will interfere with the development of these skills.
