Social Skill Problems in Children
Dallas Counseling for Social Skill Problems in Children
Social skills are the abilities individuals use when interacting with others. Social skills are long-term predictors of overall happiness and success as they allow people to understand and determine appropriate behavior in any given situation as well as to execute the correct action.
Poor social skills in children most often leads to rejection by peers. Being rejected by peers causes feelings of loneliness, which increases the risk for depression. Children who have social skills problems generally continue to struggle with interpersonal difficulties in adolescence and adulthood, which can lead to a variety of other problems. When these children are followed into their adolescence, they are found to be at increased risk for mood, anxiety, behavioral, and substance abuse disorders.
If you are concerned that your child or adolescent might be experiencing difficulty in this area, refer to the list below for potential indicators of social skills problems:
- Is not able to recognize non-verbal cues
- Violates personal space of peers
- Utilizes annoyance as a means for gaining attention
- Lacks self confidence
- Displays poor eye contact in interactions
- Lacks awareness of need for reciprocity in communication
- Talks too much – Cannot recognize cues of disinterest from others
- Lacks assertion
- Displays impulsivity, particularly in communication with others
- Can be perceived as “trying too hard” to entertain peers
- Experiences difficulty reacting to teasing and working through conflict with peers
- Isolates or withdraws from peers
- Lacks the ability to consider the needs or desires of others, appearing overly selfish in interactions with peers
- Other children avoid playing or interacting with the child
If you recognize that your child could be struggling with social skills, call Insights Therapy today at 214.706.0508 or click here to schedule an appointment. Insights offers flexible scheduling with daytime, evening and weekend appointments.