In the US, one of the Early Childhood Outcome areas for children ages 0-5 Positive Social Emotional Skills. I often feel like this outcome can get overlooked. There is a lot of information available regarding this outcome. This website has a ton of resources related to Early Childhood Outcomes and expectations throughout 0-5 years. I like to use Colorado's Age Anchoring Charts. They have one for each outcome. Here is the one for Positive Social Emotional Skills. Because I do not have access to a standardized assessment that targets Social Emotional Skills in this young age range, I often use this anchoring chart as a bit of a checklist. It helps me see where the child is at and what skills come next. It's also a great handout to give to parents, as it is written in parent-friendly language.
Even though we know that Positive Social Emotional Skills is an outcome area for the 0-5 populations, I rarely see goals to explicitly target these skills on the IFSPs and IEPs I get. Of course, developing better communication skills can help with positive social relationships, as children can now express their needs and interact with others. But how else can we target these skills? Here are a few things I have started incorporating into my therapy sessions to help develop these skills.
Baby Doll - Baby dolls are awesome of teaching safety skills. When kids are rough, baby is hurt. When baby climbs on something dangerous, she gets hurt. When baby gets hurt, we ask if she is okay. We may have to kiss a boo boo or put a bandaid on to make it better. I also use baby dolls for problem solving and perspective taking. When she is naked she is cold. What can we do to help her so she's not cold anymore? Oh now she's hungry. What can we do to fix that?
Imitating faces in mirror - This activity gives our children a chance to put names of emotions with the facial expressions they are seeing. This is essential to develop skills needed to read facial expressions so that they can express empathy and concern for others. We also want them to be able to express their emotions through their own facial expressions.
Turn Taking Games - So many of the skills related to this outcome revolve around play. Turn taking is an essential skill for this.
Greetings - Being able to say "hi" is helpful when entering a new group of peers or joining in play. Saying hi and bye is also evidence of good manners.
Incorporating others to work on appropriate interactions with peers - Play is a huge piece of this puzzle for kiddos. Playing is their primary way of socializing. If they cannot play with others, they will struggle to socialize with others. Observing them with typically developing peers in a natural environment lets you see what skills they are missing, what the play expectations are for that environment, and what accommodations you can implement to support them. Sometimes play skills have to be explicitly taught. Without seeing what skills are missing, it's hard to know where to start. Playing with other kids can be a lot more difficult for some children than playing with adults. Don't assume that they can play with other children just because they can with you.
Labeling my feelings as I make certain expressions or when certain events happen - I am HAPPY to see you (paired with a smile), SAD when you throw my toy (paired with a sad face), EXCITED when I'm clapping my hands, etc.
Orienting towards others when playing - This seems basic, but a lot of my little bitties will position themselves with their backs to me or the parent when playing. It's very hard to interact with your peers when your back is to them. Simply teaching kids to play facing their partner opens up a whole new world for play based interactions.
Refer to OT for sensory regulation help if needed - You'll notice that a lot of the skills require children to be able to regulate their emotions, which is hard to do if your entire body feels disregulated! They need to be aware of their environment. It's hard for a child to demonstrate separation anxiety when they don't even realize they've been separated from their caregiver. How can a child attempt to comfort someone in distress if they are unaware that a person is in distress?
Books - The books pictured below are definitely geared towards the older kids in this 0-5 range. But they all have great lessons and give good jumping off points for social emotional skills. Sloppy Kisses (affiliate link) is great for perspective taking and navigating relationships. I Like Me is a great book for boosting a child's self-confidence. Feelings is excellent for explaining and labeling emotions. Miss Molly's School of Manners is, obviously, great for teaching manners. Ruthie and the Not So Teeny Tiny Lie is fantastic for teaching consequences. And, finally, Fiesta Fiasco is awesome for perspective taking.
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