Social Play Milestones

Social play is when children of similar ages interact and play with each other. It is a very important milestone in childhood development and emerging language and social skills.

Unoccupied play: birth to 3 months

Children in this stage are observing anything of temporary interest, and if there is nothing happening of interest they will play with their own bodies, move around, or sit in one spot.

Solitary independent play: birth to 2 years

Solitary independent play is when a child plays alone with different toys than children in their vicinity and does not attempt to engage with others.

Onlooker behaviour: emerging around 2 years

Onlooker behaviour is when children spend time watching a specific group of children without entering in the play, though the child may talk to and ask questions of the children being observed

Parallel play: emerging after 2 years

A child in this stage will play with toys similar to those of the children next to them, though the use of toys is independent and the child will not attempt to influence the other children

Associate play: emerging around 3-4 years

Children in this stage are actively playing with others, talking about a common activity, and engaging with the toys in a similar manner, though the activity is not organized

Cooperative play: emerging after 4 years

Cooperative play is when children play in a group with an organized intent, typically with one or two children in charge, and each child has a different purpose to fulfill a common goal

Ways to Decrease Challenging Behaviours

Dr. Lynn Kern Koegl discussed “Practical Ways to Decrease Challenging Behaviours in School, Home and Community Settings” at an Autism Community Training event last October 2018. In these videos, she discusses how disruptive behaviours are communicative and that all kids have them, not just children with autism or special needs. These behaviours occur because they tend to be effective and efficient and are actually often unintentionally reinforced (e.g. attention). Therefore, the first step is trying to discover the function of the behaviour. What is this behaviour serving for the child? What are they trying to communicate? What need isn’t being met? Typically developing children tend to show a reduced frequency of disruptive behaviours as they grow older because they acquire more language. Having a larger language repertoire allows them to “use their words” and helps them to regulate their emotions. However, if a child is nonverbal, has apraxia of speech, autism, DLD etc., then the behaviours may not decrease because they are still having a hard time expressing their thoughts, wants, and needs productively and effectively.

Some predictors of Disruptive Behaviour

• Requests to engage in non-preferred tasks

• Denied access to preferred items

• Academics

• Transitions

• Change in routines

• Climate (e.g. being indoors a lot)

• Pain/illness

Motivating Factors for Disruptive Behaviours:

• Attention/positive consequence. Dr. Koegl explains that if a child screams and the teacher or caregiver approaches them and prompts them to “use your words,” to which the child uses their words, the child has learned that this entire chain is necessary for them to get what they want. Therefore, Dr. Koegl discusses the importance of providing opportunities throughout the day for the child to practice using strategies (e.g. asking for a break) before a disruptive behaviour has occurred to avoid unintentionally reinforcing the unwanted behaviour.

• Escape/avoidance. If the child does not want to be in the classroom they may have learned that if they throw or hit they can leave the room. Therefore, for this child it would be important to teach new strategies for them to leave the room without using unwanted behaviours. For example, they could have a “break card” or a “walk card'“ to use to get a break instead.

• Effective and efficient. Reminder that it is vital to make the replacement strategies just as efficient and effective as the problem behaviours were.

How to Diffuse/Decrease Disruptive Behaviours

1. Stay calm and keep everyone safe.

2. Identify function of behaviour. Why are they doing this? What are they trying to get out of this? Are they getting attention? Is there a positive consequence? Are they trying to escape or avoid something else? Are they motivated or are they bored? Is the information they are learning or the activity they are doing stimulating or is it too easy? These are all important questions to ask yourself to try and get to the root of why this behaviour is occurring in order to appropriately replace it.

3. Teach new behaviours to replace inappropriate behaviours. If the new replacement behaviour takes a long time and is complex, then this may not work. For example, if the child is nonverbal and they have to sign multiple signs (e.g. “I want a break now”) to have a break they may find crying or throwing a more efficient and effective way to get a much needed break. Therefore, a single sign (e.g. “break”) or a symbol with the word break on their desk which they can point to quickly when they need one may be a more effective tool.

4. Other strategies: Warnings before transitions, consistency across caregivers, utilizing their strengths as a reinforcement tool or theme of activity, preferred seating, circulate (research shows if an adult is circulating an area problem behaviours decrease), physical exercise (effects last about 45-60 minutes) and parent participation and education.

Try and remember that no matter how frustrating these behaviours may feel, no one likes disruptive behaviours, including the child. Helping the child express themselves in a more appropriate way before a problem behaviour arises and trying to reduce reinforcement of the behaviour can make a huge difference in the frequency of these behaviours. Check out the reference below if you want more information straight from the source!

-Shannon

References

Koegel, L.K. (2018). Practical Ways to Decrease Challenging Behaviours in School, Home and Community Settings (Parts 1-4). ACT: Setting the Stage for Success. https://www.actcommunity.ca/education/videos/practical-ways-to-decrease-challenging-behaviors-in- school-home-and-community-settings

Developmental Language Disorder

Today is Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) Awareness day! DLD is a language disorder that is recognized in the DSM-5 as “language problems that create obstacles to communication or learning in everyday life, are unlikely to resolve on their own and are not associated with a known biomedical condition.”

Facts about DLD:

• DLD is quite prevalent (approximately 2 kids in every classroom have DLD). 

• People with DLD are 6x more likely to struggle with learning to read in comparison to their same aged typically developing peers.

• People with DLD can struggle talking (expressive language) and/or understanding (receptive language) 

• Half the students who struggle w reading in primary grades have DLD

• DLD used to be called Specific Language Impairment (SLI), language learning impairment, and language delay

• People with DLD can access supports through SLPs, teachers, and friends and family

Here is a video summarizing DLD from some cute kiddos!

Click here for the Language Disorders textbook I am holding in the picture for this blog on amazon.ca and here for amazon.com.

-S

Disclosure: Some of the links on this page are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. Affiliate commissions help fund blogs like this one. 

 References:

Paul, R., Norbury, C. & Gosse, C. (2017). Language disorders: From infancy through adolescence (5th edition).St. Louis: Mosby.