Ask the Nurse: Social Interaction Tips

Question: My child is not interactive with other children. What can I do?

Answer: A child with special needs requires additional skill development. Social skills are not always learned in the same manner as other children. They often do not pick these up on their own.

One way to do this is to focus on special needs activities with your child. Focus on activities that develop social and emotional skills.  Involve other children and family members. These activities not only improve their skills, but also, are fun and can be enjoyed by everyone.

Here are some examples of activities that help develop and strengthen muscles which, in turn, improve skills.

Fine Motor Skills: drawing and coloring, manipulating play dough, folding, scrunching paper, cutting shapes with paper and scissors, picking up small objects.

Gross Motor Skills: kicking and throwing a ball, dancing, and pretend play, riding tri-cycles, balancing, swinging, climbing and sliding on playground equipment.

Speech/Language Skills: blowing bubbles, licking ice cream, creating sentence strings, singing silly songs, tongue twisters.

Just playing with your child and having fun can go a long way in both teaching and having a great time.

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DISCLAIMER: The contents of the Ask the Nurse column (“Column”) such as text, medical information, graphics, images and any and all other material contained in the column (“Content”) are for informational purposes only.  The Content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your (or your child’s) physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. NEVER DISREGARD PROFESSIONAL MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY IN SEEKING CARE BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU (OR YOUR CHILD) HAVE READ IN ANY MEDICAL LITERATURE!

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This post originally appeared on our July/August 2013 Magazine