|
Soc Com: Population
|
 Social
Communication:Definition and Population Who are the children with social communication problems? Very often school age children with disabilities have extraordinary difficulty managing social situations. Rather than use language to facilitate their interactions, they often resort to inappropriate, challenging behaviors, such as grabbing, hitting, or crying. These children are often out of control and in trouble; they are also the children that are eventually described as having difficulty making and keeping friends. At worse, these problems give rise to children who are at risk for long-term alienation and dependency, "youth at risk." Social communication problems in school age children can reflect broad neurological deficits, specific deficits in social-emotional adjustment and/or language, and/or environmental obstacles. Very often children with social communication problems exhibit cognitive abilities within normal limits for their age. These children demonstrate an array of deficits and diagnoses, including but not limited to: Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Specific Language Impairments, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Disorders, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders, Language Learning Disabilities, Obsessive Compulsive Disorders, and Nonverbal Learning Disabilities. Information about the social communication problems associated with these disorders is varied. Below we provide references and links to Web sites that we have found useful for the following disorders: Autistic Spectrum Disorders, Specific Language Impairments, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Disorders, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders.
For years social communication problems have been an identifying feature of children with autistic spectrum disorders. Excellent information about autism, particularly in relationship to social communication, can be found at the following sites: National Institute of Mental Health - What is Autism? Autism Society of America - What is Autism? Center for the Study of Autism - Issues
Increasingly, problems associated with social communication have become a focus of attention for a variety of other children with disabilities, including, children with specific language impairment. The following sites and references provide useful information regarding this population: BYU News Release - Redmond & Rice (1998, 2002)
Recently, children with fetal alcohol syndrome and related conditions have been identified as having social communication problems. In many ways their behavioral profiles look similar to those of children with language impairments. Resources for this population can be found at the following Web sites: National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Family Resource Institute University of Washington School of Medicine, British Columbia Ministry of Education, Teaching Students with
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome/Effects University of Washington FASlink
Children with ADHD are often identified by their problem behaviors. Difficulty with inattention and impulsivity coexist with social problems such as poor self-control, poor social problem-solving skills and the use of inappropriate language with peers and adults. Resources for the identification and treatment of social problems with ADHD can be found at the following Web sites and references: Children and Adults with Attention-Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder National Institute for Mental Health - Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity
Disorder
|
|||
|
|
