Social skills are important childhood skills that provide a foundation for children to successfully participate in play, engage with their learning environment, and become active members of their community as they get older. Building these skills requires a number of prerequisites, including executive functioning, motor planning, and sensory processing. Children with deficits in any of these areas may present with challenges related to social skills. Children may have difficulties with impulse control and co-regulation with others in large group settings, prefer to play independently rather than with peers, have difficulty with back-and-forth interactions, or be rigid and controlling in their play. Children may appear overly shy or overly friendly with strangers, or have difficulty reading social cues and display inappropriate behaviors.
At San Diego Occupational Therapy, we work with children and families to address the underlying skills that support social skill development, both through one-on-one therapy and group/peer play as appropriate. Our therapists are trained in several social-emotional curricula, including Social Thinking, Zones of Regulation, and the Alert Program.
For more information please contact us.