Strategies/Reasoning Skills

Strategies/Reasoning and Social Situations

With the child and one of his or her peers, create and practice social scripts (also called “Options”). These scripts are language-based solutions to social problems that occur in the child’s home or school.

Children with language and learning disabilities need time to practice and think about the issues that they encounter in social situations with peers. One way to encourage a child to practice is to talk about these encounters and have him or her draw pictures, if possible. The best teaching strategy is to ask the child to think of a way to respond to the social problem that may not be appropriate (the opposite of the correct response). He will think of these options and write them down on paper or on the computer. Then, the child should be encouraged to think of a more appropriate response to the problem and write this option on the list. The options should be limited to three ways to solve the one social issue. For example:

Problem:

A new boy comes to my school. At the playground, I see him walking toward the basketball court. I notice that he doesn’t have a team shirt. He looks at me. What do I say?

Options:

• I could just say nothing or ignore him or leave.
• I could say, “That’s a nice basketball. Welcome to the team!”
• I could say, “Hi, let’s go find out where you can get your team shirt. Do you want to shoot some hoops?

The child shows the drawing of the options. By looking at his drawing of the subject matter and the options he can use to solve the social problems, the child can practice. A child with a language delay needs time to practice in a safe, quiet setting.