Emily Sally Helen Lydia David Erica
Louise Fraya Caroline
Year 1 boys
Alfie Nicola Ben.A Gareth David
Ben.A Alfie James
Mark Gary
Gareth Ben.A Gary Olivia
David Alfie Ben.A
Sam Alfie James
James Mark Gareth Gary
Gary Louise Mark David James Louise
Year 2 girls
Erica Lydia
Lydia Emily Erica
Hannah Shannelle
Shannelle Sam Hannah Louise Olivia
Louise Erica Lauren Olivia
Lauren Sally Helen Ben.B Adam.A
Olivia Fraya Lydia Shannelle Lauren
Year 2 boys
Adam.A Mark Sam Scott Adam.B
Adam.B Gareth Sam Shannelle Adam.A Scott Ben.B Jake Lauren
Ben.B Helen Nicola Scott Jake
Jake Hannah Adam.B
Scott Adam.A Adam.B Ben.B Jake
Conclusion
During my observation I discovered that most of the children are friends with each other and there is a mix of gender and age, but not much. They tend to stick to children their own age and sex. When I asked the year 2 boys why only 1 girl were mentioned among their choices I was answered with a chorus of “girls! Err! Yuck!” Ben.B said that most of the girls were sissy’s. When I asked why Lauren was different Adam.A said she wasn’t a girl. “Of course she is!” The boys mumbled and agreement that she doesn’t count because she’s not a sissy. They think that because she climbs trees and plays football and wears jeans and trainers to the infants disco that she is indeed a boy. They know that she’s a girl because of the facts but they accept her as a boy and treat her differently compared to the other girls.
The only child in the whole class who was not mentioned by anyone else as one of their best friends was Fraya. Fraya is new the class and has not yet made many friends. When asked who her 3 best friends were she had to think to actually remember 3 names. I think given time Fraya will make many friends as she is a happy out going and friendly child.
Shannelle joined class 1 / 2 K 4 months ago. She has just moved here with her grandparents from Holland, English is her second language and she has improved extremely well in the last 4 months.
Learning for me
I learnt a lot from with class 1 / 2 K and this was a typical session. Everyone in the class has different view on things and even though there are definite social groups every one is friends with everyone else. The teachers and other staff practice good anti-discriminatory and anti-bias practice it is important to portray equal opportunities. Children are to be treated equally but at the same time their personal needs need to be taken into consideration. In class 1 / 2 K there are friends who are in definite social groups then there are groups that inter-change and mix with the whole of the infant’s school. This observation points out who the children play and work with. It is interesting to find out who likes who and if they feel the same, some children liked every one but not many of there class mates felt the same way, it is interesting to find out why this is. I managed to gain the children’s confidence and by helping them to reach their full potential.
Evaluation
Social emotional development includes the ability to:
Communicate effectively
Organise and control behaviour
Understand non-verbal cues
Imitate other children
Initiate interactions
Take turns
Share
Negotiate
Attend to activities
Maintain meaningful relationships
Children that are 7 years old should be able to do most of these. They should have distinct friendship groups and friends who they turn to for help and encouragement.
The children in 1 / 2 K have a strong group bond, they will all help each other if needed, they worry about ill or missing colleagues, and the people they work with i.e. teachers and class room assistants. They learn to trust each other and to know what is expected of them socially i.e how they are expected to behave.
Children with limited or immature social skills typically have difficulty making friends, playing skilfully and understanding appropriate social behaviour. Helping a child to understand social cues, recognise others’ emotions, others’ behaviour and the associated underlying communication in various social interactions will assist a child towards a more successful, independent, interactive social life.
A social-emotional sensory-motor approach to working on social skill difficulties understands that many skills are needed to form a foundation for a child’s ability to interact successfully and develop relationships with peers. An awareness of a child’s particular family environment, developmental level, temperamental characteristics, behavioural style and sensory responsiveness is the basis for beginning the remediation of social skill deficits.
This social-emotional, sensory-motor approach uses a play-based format, building on developmentally appropriate interests, to assist the child in initiating and reciprocating in social interactions. This intervention offers opportunities for interaction with typical age-appropriate peers.
Jon Baulby states that to be healthy, children must form relationships not only with their parents, but also with siblings and with peers. Peer relationships change over time. In the toddler period, children's social skills are very limited; they spend most of their time playing side by side rather than with each other in a give-and-take fashion.
As children grow, their abilities to form close relationships become highly dependent on their social skills. These include an ability to interpret and understand other children’s nonverbal cues, such as body language and pitch of voice. Children whose social skills develop optimally respond to what other children say, use eye contact, often mention the other child's name, and may use touch to get attention. If they want to do something that other children oppose, they can articulate the reasons why their plan is a good one. They can suppress their own wishes and desires to reach a compromise with other children and may be willing to change—at least in the presence of another child—a stated belief or wish. When they are with a group of children they do not know, they are quiet but observant until they have a feeling for the structure and dynamics of the group (Coie & Kuperschmidt, 1983; Dodge, 1983; Putallaz, 1983; Dodge & Feldman, 1990; Kagan et al., 1998).
In contrast, children who lack such skills tend to be rejected by other children. Commonly, they are withdrawn, do not listen well, and offer few if any reasons for their wishes; they rarely praise others and find it difficult to join in co-operative activities (Dodge, 1983). They often exhibit features of oppositional defiant or conduct disorder, such as regular fighting, dominating and pushing others around, or being spiteful (Dodge et al., 1990). Social skills improve with opportunities to mix with others (Bridgeman, 1981). In recent years, knowledge of the importance of children’s acquisition of social skills has led to the development and integration of social skills training components into a number of successful therapeutic interventions.
Bibliography
realtion
Tassoni, P (2000). Diploma in Child Care and Education. Oxford, Heinemann’s.
Jerry Lindquist,
Coie & Kuperschmidt, 1983; Dodge, 1983; Putallaz, 1983; Dodge & Feldman, 1990; Kagan et al., 1998
Dodge et al., 1990
Bridgeman, 1981
