Description
Social skills programme for young children with vision impairment.
Social skills are the behaviours that enable us to take part in a group of people. To establish friendships and to develop self esteem. Children with visual impairment need support to build positive social skills. To help them enjoy positive social experiences:
Play skills
Turn taking, sharing, awareness of others, reciprocal play, imaginative and pretend play
Conversation skills
Turn taking in conversation. Looking towards the person speaking during conversation.
Listening skills – active and attentive listening, giving and receiving instructions.
Non-Verbal language
Interpreting and understanding the messages conveyed by body language. Understanding facial expressions and voice tone.
How it works
There are 9 session plans in the Social Skills Programme for Young Children with VI. Offering suggestions to support the development of positive social skills. Created for young children with VI, taught in a small social skills group in an early years setting. The programme may also be suitable for children in KS1 who are socially immature. These children may also need support to develop their social skills.
Here is an example of the goals for some of the sessions
Session 1: Getting to know you activities
Positive body language, listening skills, small group skills
Session 2: Good Listening
Recognising good listening behaviours them in self and in others. Attending whilst listening, using non-verbal body language to show listening is taking place. Participating in small group situations, playing, taking turns. Developing good looking skills
Session 3: Listening Again
Identifying good listening behaviours – recognising them in self and in others. Participating in small group situations and listening attentively. Using appropriate body language to prove this. Using good looking skills – turn head, face, body towards person speaking.
Session 4: Happy or Sad
Participating in small group situations. Identifying the emotions happy/sad through facial expressions. Use posture in own self and in others. Asking/answering ‘Who,’ ‘What’ and ‘Where’ questions.
Why use?
Taught in a focussed way to a small group. The Social Skills Programme supports the development of the main social skills.
- Looking towards the person
- Turn taking in conversation
- Speaking during conversation
- Listening skills – active and attentive listening
- Giving and receiving instructions
- Benefits of the Social Skills Programme:
- Print Monitoring checklists for each session
- Programme is adaptable to meet child’s needs
- Record progress on a simple graph system
Testimonials
“The social skills development techniques will transfer. We can also use them for with children with hearing impairment.”
“Social skills development is a major focus for our team this year. This programme will run across the service. Super that they can adapt to our specific needs.”
“We want to use the pack to show evidence of our impact.” – Teachers of VI, Midlands, England
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