Social and Emotional Development Description of graphical content is included between Description Start and Description End. Transcript Start [ Slide start: ] Read by speaker Audio Description: A slide reads Self-Identity. At the bottom are logos for Penrickton Center for Blind Children, Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired, and Perkins School for the Blind. Patty Obrzut: How do children with special needs interact with those around them? You know, many children have wonderful relationships with parents, with teachers, with siblings and with friends, but other children don't. Some children can be aggressive or self injurious when approached by others, while other children withdraw, or they might want to be left alone. Dr. Nielsen asks in her book "Are you Blind?" Why are children with severe multiple disabilities reacting to others in this manner? Her thoughts provide an insight into the social, emotional development of children with special needs. And today, I'd like to provide you with an overview of that information. First, it's important to understand the emotional development that occurs in small children. So, according to The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, the core features of emotional development include the ability to do the following six things. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Core Features of Emotional Development Content: • ability to identify and understand one's own feelings • accurately read and comprehend emotional states in others, • manage strong emotions and their expression in constructive manner • regulate one's own behavior, • develop empathy for others, • establish and maintain relationships. (National Scientific Council on the Developing Child 2004) Description End: So first, a child needs to identify and understand their own feelings. Next, they need to accurately read and comprehend emotional states in other people. They also need to manage strong emotion and their expressions in a constructive manner. A child needs to regulate his own behavior, develop empathy for others, and establish and maintain relationships. [ Slide end: ] It's important to understand that emotional development influences all areas of development. It provides the foundation for how we feel about ourselves, and how we experience others. The Five Phases of Educational Treatment provide guidelines and techniques to address emotional development in children with special needs. Before reviewing each phase, let's explore closely how typically developing children respond, or how they make contact with adults, so that we can identify similar characteristics in children with special needs. So let's take a child from birth to age two months and how do they make contacts with an adult. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: Birth to 2 months -- Typically Developing Content: Child contacts or repsonds to contact by: • clutching fingers or some hair of the adult, • clutching some of the adult's clothing Description End: They'll frequently clutch a finger, clutch some hair, or even grab a piece of clothing from an adult. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 2-3 Months -- Typically Developing Content: Contacts or responds to contact by: • smacking lips, • making "grrr" sounds • by nodding Description End: Now, a two to three month old child, may start to contact an adult by smacking his lips, or nodding, or making a, kind of, grrr sound. [ Slide end: ] A special needs child at the emotional level of a zero to three month old, is not going to be the same physical size as a typically, zero to three month old child, he or she is going to be larger and stronger. So, if this child attempts to interact with an adult by grasping on to an adults finger, on to their hair or clothing, this child's going to do so with extreme strength. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 1-3 months -- Special Needs Child Content: • If clutch or grasp is too strong, adults may avoid contact, or prevent child from grasping or clutching. • If the child succeeds, he may receive negative responses to the behavior. Result: child initiates grasping/clutching own clothing or hair, engages in attempts to receive negative responses from adults. Description End: So as a result, the adult may avoid contact with the child or prevent the child from grasping onto the adult. If the child's successful at grasping or clutching the adult, the child might be greeted with a negative response. The adult might say, "Hey, don't do that. Stop that!" And the result is going to be that the child is going to grasp on to maybe his or own clothing or hair. [ Slide end: ] Or maybe, they engage in getting negative responses from the adult, because, honestly, getting a negative response is better than no response at all. So, they enjoy the fact that a parent is telling them, "Stop. Don't do that!" and they continue to try to grab on to the adult. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 1-3 months -- Special Needs Child Content: • Some transfer clutching/grasping to the mouth -- they bite. • Some use their nails for pinching, instead of biting or grasping. Description End: Some children at the emotional level of a zero to three month old may transfer clutching or grasping from the hand to the mouth. So, now you have a child that knows how to bite. Other children are going to transfer clutching from... the grasping to pinching, so now you have kids that when you come near them, are pinching you on the arm. [ Slide end: ] Let's move on to the age of a four or six month old child. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 4-6 months of age -- Typically Developing Content: • Contacts or responds to contact by babbling or crying consciously. Description End: At this typical development, a child will begin to contact an adult by babbling or by crying consciously. The child is going to vary his or her cry to mean different things, and the adult begins to understand the meaning of those cues. For example, they might cry because they're hungry, or because they need their diaper changed. And an adult starts to understand what those cry mean. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 4-6 months of age -- Special Needs Child Content: • May scream or cry most of the day. • Possible that the screaming is a child's attempt at babbling. Description End: Now, in a special needs child, at the emotional level of four to six months of age, they might start to use their voice, as well, to contact an adult. But sometimes that child is going to begin to scream really loudly, or cry for extended periods of time. It's possible that this child who's screaming is really attempting to babble. [ Slide end: ] Now, let's move on to the six to eight month old level. With this child, if they want to sit on your lap, for example, they always want to sit on your lap in a specific way. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 6-8 months -- Typically Developing Content: • The child contacts or responds to contact by molding his/her body into the shape of adults. • The child snuggles close to the adult. Description End: This child's going to wiggle around in your lap and they want to be positioned exactly right. You know, if you try to move their arm, they're always moving their bodies so that they sit how they want to sit. [ Slide end: ] Now, a special needs child at the emotional level at the six to eight month age range is not going to be the same size as chronologically six to eight months of age. So frequently, this child is so big that you can't hold this child easily. This child may want to move his or her body the way he or she wants to move their body. This child may be pulling their arms away and, kind of, hiding them, this child may want to sit in a specific way, and this child, if they're able to be held by an adult, also might want to be held or positioned a certain way. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 10 months -- Typically Developing Content: • Contacts adult by "showing objects." • Wants to share interests with adult. • If adult does not respond, may attempt to establish contact by hitting the adult with the object. (banging objects) Description End: At ten months of age, the typically developing child contacts an adult by showing the adult objects. [ Slide end: ] Now, let's say you have a child who wants to play with this ball; the child is beginning to share his or her interest with the adult. If the adult doesn't respond right away, the child may hit the adult... with the object in question. So for example, a child might be playing with the ball, and all they're going to do is reach out and want to show you the ball. Sometimes an adult thinks that the child is giving you ball, and you go to take it, and at ten months that's not what the child is doing. All they want to do is show it to you. So again, if you don't pay attention they might take this ball and start hitting it against you, to see if you'll pay attention to their behavior. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 12 months -- Typically Developing Content: • Contacts adult by moving to the adult (pull to standing, walking or crawling). • Acts like he/she wants to sit on adult's lap, but as soon as he/she gets there, wants to get down. Description End: At twelve months of age, a typically developing child will contact an adult by moving to the adult. So, this is the child that pulls up to standing or walks or crawls over to you, you pick up the child, because you think they want to be held and as soon as you so do that, the child wants to go get put back down again. [ Slide end: ] Now a special needs child at the emotional level of a ten to twelve month old, remember, might do things like, banging. We just talked about that a typically developing child might bang on you. So, a child with special needs at a ten to twelve month old might take an object [banging] and bang all the time. This child may also use objects, or even hit themselves, or other people. A physically larger child may not be able to get up and climb on the lap of an adult, so the child may lean against the adult briefly, or rest an arm or a hand on the adult briefly. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 15 months -- Typically Developing Content: • Picks up an object and gives it to adult with expectation adult will give the object back • If adult will not engage in game, child looks for another adult who will engage in game. Description End: At fifteen months of age a child without disabilities, will begin to give objects to an adult. This is now when the child actually wants to give you the objects for you to take it. [ Slide end: ] So let's go back to that ball that we were talking about at the ten month old level. When a child goes to show you the object at fifteen month they actually want you to take it. How do you know that they want you to take it? When you put your hand on the ball, if the child let's go, they want you to take it. But if you put your hand on the ball, and they don't let go, they wanted to show it to you. And so you have to touch it briefly, say, "Yes, I see the ball," and you let go; if it's ten month old. But a fifteen month old, you would hold on to the ball. If the child releases it, you take it, you look at it, play with it, and then you hand it right back to the child. [ Slide start: ] Repeat previous slide If one adult will not engage with the child, then the child will look for another adult who will engage with the child. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 18 months -- Typically Developing Content: • Will lend adult most cherished toy. • Will also engage in building games as a contact game. Description End: At eighteen months of age, a child will lend an adult his most cherished possession, and the child will engage in building games. [ Slide end: ] So, this is a child who lends you his favorite teddy bear or wants to stack cups and plates or blocks and knock them over. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 2 years -- Typically Developing Content: • involves adult in hiding games and games of searching for each other • Involves adult in rough and tumble games • Wants to interfere in activities of an adult Description End: At two years of age, a child will participate in hiding or searching games, they enjoy rough and tumble games, and they want to interfere in the activities of the adult. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: 3 years -- Typically Developing Content: • Is eager to help with domestic activities • Leans against, places an elbow against or looks at an adult to receive a smile or a comment-- and then looks at others present to share with them this emotional experience. Description End: Lastly, a child three years of age is eager to help with domestic activities. This child may be briefly leaning on the adult, or may look at the adult to get a smile or a comment; and then the child looks to others in the room to share the experiences, as well. [ Slide end: ] It's not so important to remember the specific ages related to the emotional development. [ Slide start: ] Description Start: Title: It is imperative to: Content: Assess the emotional level in children with special needs. Description End: But it is important to remember the sequence of development. [ Slide end: ] In this way, you can help a child with special needs progress from one emotional level to the next. [ Slide start: ] Read by speaker Audio Description: A slide reads active learning space. www.activelearningspace.org. May 2017. At the bottom are logos for Penrickton Center for Blind Children, Texas School for the Blind & Visually Impaired, and Perkins School for the Blind.