Understand Your Child

Skill Development - Play / Social Skills

What are they?

Play is voluntary engagement in intrinsically motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment. Play may consist of amusing, pretend or imaginary, interpersonal and intrapersonal interactions or interplay.

Why is it important?
Play is the way by which children learn. "Free" or unstructured play in early childhood is an important way that children learn about their world. Play is an important avenue through which social skills can develop. As they grow older they learn about societal rules by making up games with rules, as well as about winning and losing and "playing fair". They also learn about controlling their impulses in order to do well at something as well as about space, and lots of other thinking skills. Above all, play is needed for fun and relaxation.

Building blocks necessary to develop play and social skills:
Play skills are determined by the ability to plan and sequence play activities (including new activities), problem solve challenges and generalize skills from one activity/toy to another. Social skills are determined by the ability to engage in reciprocal interaction with others (either verbally or non-verbally), to compromise with others, and be able to recognize and follow social norms.

You tell there are problems with play and social skills if the child:
• Has difficulty playing by themselves and demands constant attention
• Flits between multiple activities without completing them (or actively engaging in them)
• Don’t know how to occupy their time or entertain themselves
• Have few friends or difficulty making friends
• Requires adult assistance to problem solve

When play and social skills are less than ideal, you might also see difficulties with:
• Emotional development
• Sharing and understanding of rules
• Socially appropriate behaviour

What can be done to improve play and social skills?
• By tailoring treatment to the individual child, the therapist can select activities that are fun and meaningful, whilst still achieving therapeutic goals. Treatment may give parents fresh ideas on how to engage the child or present activities at a level that they feel they can succeed
• Develop problem solving strategies
• Social stories

Activities that can improve play and social skills include:
• Using the child’s interests to direct play
• Playing on the floor with your child and modelling adaptive play
• Develop stories as you play and ensure play is directed by the child