Kids Talk
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Poor social skills evident in screen addicted generation 
by: Evelyn Yamine  From: Herald Sun  January 16, 2012 12:00AM  

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Experts say too much screen time can stunt the development of a child's social skills. 

CHILDREN'S social skills are being stunted because of "screen addiction", and parents are being urged to wean their children off electronic games before school resumes.

NSW child psychologist Kimberley O'Brien, of Quirky Kid Clinic, said more parents were enrolling children in social skills classes because of the time children spent watching TV or playing Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox and PlayStation games.

Dr O'Brien said "screen addiction" was increasing even for children of kindergarten age and many were more comfortable playing electronic games than playing with other children. She said about 60 per cent of children questioned had said watching TV or playing games was their favourite activity.

"Social skills need a bit more work these days because of screen time," Dr O'Brien said.

"The ones that may have spent too much time on the screen may be a little behind when it comes to social skills, but kids can be very adaptable."

Dr O'Brien said the clinic's social skills and communication program taught children how to join groups, take turns and be able to talk and play with other children.

NSW Kids First Children's Services director Sonja Walker advised parents to wean their children off the games and set up rules around TV and games access during the school year.

"It's about setting up boundaries for school times," Ms Walker said.

"Holidays are different but when it's back to school, you tell them this is how it's going to be when it comes to electronic games and screen time."

Ms Walker said children should turn off screens at least an hour before bed.

Children also began to feel anxiety as school approached and experts said familiarity was the best way to combat those fears, especially for children starting kindergarten, high school or changing schools.

Sydney Child Psychology Centre principal psychologist Dr Fiona Martin said parents of children starting "big school" should take the children for a visit to the school, encourage them to practise putting on their uniforms and packing lunch boxes and organise play dates with other children.

"I think it's all about making kids resilient, teaching them so they are able to cope when something goes wrong," she said.

CARLOS OSORIO/TORONTO STAR FILE PHOTO

Dr. Stephen Scherer, senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, co-led an international research team to find the genetic roots of autism.

Genes Provide Key to Autism
(click here for link to article)

 When It's Not Autism, What Is It?  
   (roll mouse over photo to view video) AUTISTIC-LIKE: GRAHAM'S STORY  


Helpful Hints for Good Speech and Language Development

1.       Avoid use of sippy cups and baby bottles, they prolong the suckling pattern, inhibiting the evolution of a correct swallow pattern.  This often results in a tongue thrust (swallowing with the tongue between the teeth) and/or an interdental lisp (saying “s” with the tongue between the teeth). 

2.      If using a straw cup, cut the straw so only ¼ inch is protruding from the spout.  This keeps the straw between the lips and not beyond.  If the straw goes in past the lips, the tongue automatically comes out to meet it, prolonging a suckling pattern.

3.      Model correct speech patterns for your child without correcting their conversational speech.  If you want to show them a correct production of a sound in a word, do it at a time where you can look in a mirror and practice.  This allows for a positive experience. 

4.      Everything you do is a potential language activity. Take advantage of your daily experiences and discuss what you are doing as it happens.  Pick out a simple experience and report about it later in the day:  “Remember we went to the supermarket and saw all the fruits?” or “The mailman brings us mail every day.”

5.      Children generally find it easier to say words containing simple sounds such as: [m, p, b, t, d, n, w, h]. After those sounds are established, they can generally produce: [f, k, g, s].  Correct production of [l, r, th] does not come in for most children until close to 5 years of age. 

6.      If your child is difficult to understand and is showing signs of frustration, consulting a speech-language pathologist is recommended. 

7.      Correcting mispronunciation of sounds such as: [s, z, sh, ch, j, l, r, th] is not usually done until after the age of 5 unless the sound is being omitted.

8.      Sound omissions (“at” for “hat” or “haa” for “hat”) can be dealt with before the age of 4 in most cases.

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Thomas the Tank Engine helps autistic kids identify emotions

By Saeed Ahmed
CNN
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/27/autism.thomas.engine/index.html

(CNN) -- Thomas the Tank Engine, whose television adventures on the fictional island of Sodor have delighted children around the world for years, is now on a real-life mission to help kids with autism.

Thomas the Tank Engine is part of a new online game to help autistic children recognize different emotions.

The steam locomotive and his friends are the stars of a new game in Australia, designed to help autistic children recognize emotions.

Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect), a nonprofit that provides services to people diagnosed with the developmental disorder, unveiled the game on its Web site Tuesday.

The game asks players to recognize which engine has a sad face, or which is happy or angry.

Children with autism often have a difficult time distinguishing different facial expressions.

Each time a child plays the game, he/she is presented with a different sequence of emotions. In doing so, the game takes advantage of the single-mindedness of autistic children to assist in their development.

"It's a great way to help develop social and communication skills," said Anthony Warren of Aspect.

A study conducted in the United Kingdom found that autistic children were far more fascinated by the television series, "Thomas and Friends," than they were with other fictional characters.

The study, by the National Autistic Society, summarized that the show held such appeal because of the clear facial expressions of the characters, the pacing of the program and the easy-to-follow story lines.

"We got those results down here, and we thought, how could we leverage that strength and give a little back to the community?" said Tom Punch with Haven Licensing, the company that handles licensing for the characters in Australia.

Warren said one of the reasons Thomas is particularly stimulating and motivating for children with autism is that it's very predictable.

"Children can understand the clear visual messages -- the big smile on the front of the engine," he said. "The messages it communicates are very concrete, not abstract. And the emotions are primary emotions. It's uncomplicated."

Autism is a developmental disorder that affects physical, social and language skills. It usually appears before age 3, though the earliest signs are subtle.

More doctors and researchers are referring to "autism" as "autisms," because each child's case is different, as are the causes, helpful therapies and potential treatments.

The Australian nonprofit unveiled the game this month to coincide with Autism Awareness Month in that country.

After all, as the show's theme song attests: "Red and green and brown and blue; They're the really useful crew."



Can You Invite Me To Your Birthday Party?
By Janet M. Krebs, MS, CCC-SLP

Nine year old Mara asked soon to be ten year old Lucy, “Can you invite me to your birthday party?” Lucy responded, “I can’t because it is going to be at my beach house and it’s too far away for you.” Mara had a slightly disappointed face after hearing that response. Lucy went on to describe her upcoming party and what would take place. During an appropriate reciprocal language moment, when Lucy finished, Mara told about her upcoming birthday party, which was to happen in 5 days, and the impending events. Interestingly, Lucy just listened to Mara’s description and then the subject changed.

What a perfect opportunity for a social pragmatic language lesson. Clearly it was necessary for Mara to learn that it was not appropriate for her to request an invitation to someone’s party. Beyond that, though, she requested an invitation to Lucy’s party despite the fact that Mara was having her own party and did not invite Lucy. Mara felt no awkwardness about that. Not surprisingly, Lucy didn’t even pick up on it.

This made me think of all the times I told my sons, “It’s not polite to ask someone to invite you.” or “If you do not invite him, how will you feel if he has a party and doesn’t invite you?” or “Just because you invite someone it is not guarantee they will invite you.” It made me think of the time my son did invite a boy who lives around the corner to his party and the boy had a party two days later at his house, not inviting my son, only to be found out when we drove down his block to get to our house (which is the route we always take). My son was quite philosophical about it, “Maybe his Mom only let him have a certain number of kids.” My son’s mother was not so generous in her thoughts.

I can’t help but ask myself over and over, “Doesn’t anyone teach these children proper social behaviors?” My answer for the general population is “Sometimes I wonder.” My answer for the pragmatically impaired population is, “I will do my best to teach these things since each and every interaction may be a struggle.” If I can prepare Mara and Lucy for the challenges to come, I may not be able to save them some disappointment, but I can help them be prepared for their reactions and the reactions of others.

Activities involving exposure to appropriate and inappropriate things to say to others can set the stage for accomplishing this learning. I have collected quotes “out of the mouths of babes” and had children act them out. We have then categorized them into the famed “DO” and “DON’T” columns. To provide a twist in the activity, we sometimes say the same quote in different tones to see if it changes the meaning. As I compiled these quotes I realized how many of them are appropriate if used in another context. Some have been extracted from conversations where the original comment might have been quite appropriate, but alas, something was lost in the translation.

“You’re only 8 years old?”
“I used to have a shirt like that when I was a little kid.”
“Can you invite me to your birthday party?”
“I saw that movie, it was terrible.”
“If you keep eating junk you’ll get fat.”
“My hair gets messy too when I play.”
“You look better in long hair.”
“The Mets stink.”
“My Mom says the Cartoon Network is bad T.V.”
“My Dad calls my Mom stupid all the time.”
“You can have it if you say, “Please.”
“I don’t want to play any more.”
“Maybe we’ll do that next time.”

 

Another variation on this activity is to assign children with personality/emotion jobs or hats. I have made hats in the office out of crowns or caps and they are labeled, “MEAN”, “HURT”, “SORRY”, “ANGRY”, “SAD”, “BORED”, etc. If a child is wearing a particular hat they have to act out the quote in this way. It is a good way to see how different emotions can be conveyed with the same words. We then analyze the cues we received. Sometimes I secretly ask a child to say the quote in a particular way and the audience guesses the correct emotion, assigning the hat to the speaker. There are many ways to change up the activity and make it fun.

I have found that just listening to the conversation around me provides multiple opportunities for social pragmatic language lessons. Whether you overhear an adult conversation about gossip, or one person consoling another, ideas should pop into your head. Every time I hear children negotiating with one another I think of new activities. After my late day groups, the children who attend often stay and trade Pokemon cards in my waiting room because that activity is forbidden in the group room. Listening to these unfacilitated interactions is always food for thought. So take some time and listen.

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