Week 7 - Frame of Reference for Social Participation

Question 1

1. How may a disability impact on social participation with peers?

Answer 1

• Social participation looks at social acceptance & development of friends
• This creates positive self-esteem, emotional security and social support
• Impact of disability on social participation
  a) DCD: higher loneliness and lower participation
  b) Sensory processing disorder: differences in intensity and enjoyment of social networks
  c) Physical disabilities: atypical social networks with increased dependence on others to make social engagement

Question 2

2. What is the difference between social participation, social competence, social acceptance and social skills? How ae these concepts interrelated

Answer 2

• Social competence: the ability to adapt to an ever-changing landscape that takes into consideration the landscape, people, thoughts, beliefs & needs of others
• Social participation: engaging in social interactions (learning how to act with other people in a range of environments)

Question 3

3. What is social competence and what might impact on its acquisition?

Answer 3

• the ability to adapt to an ever-changing landscape that takes into consideration the landscape, people, thoughts, beliefs & needs of others (awareness of others, social skills, effective communication)
• Being able to:
  • Discriminate demands of social setting
  • Determine verbal and non-verbal skills
  • Execute those skills
  • Effectively perceive reactions of others
  • Adjust to feedback
• Affected by:
  • Attachment – securely attached children make other attachments easier
  • Temperament – e.g. hypervigilance due to abuse
  • Cognition, motor, langue, sensory processing

Question 4

5. Why is development of self-regulation important?

Answer 4

• Self-regulation: capacity to inhibit one impulse in favor of doing something else that will meet underlying social and emotional needs or get you social acceptance
• Important because it’s a necessary component of social problem solving (the process of making choices that govern behaviour in relation to others)

Question 5

6. What are prosocial skills and how do these influence social competence and social participation?

Answer 5

• Positive behaviours that facilitate relating, rules of social engagement and politeness, involves cooperation and self-control
• Being able to compromise in conflict situations
• Inviting others to join activities
• Volunteering to help others

Question 6

8. When working with any young child, what would you be mindful of when working with them and their parents to minimize the risk of social impairment?

Answer 6

• What skills need to be learnt (self-regulation, how to manage emotions)
• Does the child need support to develop skills?
• Will intervention focus on learning strategies to:
  • Learn skills
  • Support implementation
  • Identify when social situation is breaking down and how to repair
• Social accommodation: child will change their behaviour to accommodate
• Social assimilation: modify environment to be more conducive for the child to participate

Question 7

11. Can you describe techniques that are useful to support development of self-regulation?

Answer 7

• Stress thermometer: indicates how thinking in a situation and stressful it is
  Indicates strategies and supports to use at different levels of stress
• How does my engine run?: self-awareness of how the child is feeling

Question 8

13. Would you know the process of helping a child write a comic strip conversation when they have been displaying an inappropriate social behavior, e.g., not taking turns in a conversation or invading personal space

Answer 8

• A description of the event that caused the problem
• Feelings and thoughts of everyone involved
• A solution to the problem and ideas on how to avoid it in the future

Question 9

14. Would you know the process of helping a child to write a social story to develop skills for an appropriate social behavior, e.g., taking turns in conversation or not invading another’s personal space?

Answer 9

• Affirming what they did well

- Exploring what can be improved

Question 10

15. How would you help develop these social behaviours (e.g., taking turns in conversation or not invading another’s personal space) in a social skills group?

Answer 10

• Reminder cards
• Power card strategy (incorporate their interests) – what would a hero do in the situation
• Pyramid processing: stop, strategies, respond