Social Interaction
In addition to children learning mature language structures, it is important to consider how they use their language to interact with others.
The following characteristics may be indicators of difficulties with social interaction, which may benefit from further investigation.
Children may present with one or more of these characteristics
Difficulties in very young children
- Poor/unusual eye contact
- Does not reliably respond to name
- Does not point at objects to show others or bring objects to others to show them
- Does not raise arms to be lifted
- Does not try to attract adult’s attention to own activity
- Indifferent to others- especially other children
- Play is limited, often repetitive- no pretend play or learned sequences only
- Strange reactions to sound
- Echolalia
Difficulties in older pre-school children
- One sided interaction (not listening/co-operating with conversational partner)
- Good/adequate vocabulary but communication not effective/appropriate. Chunks of language may have been learned
- Lack of creative, novel pretend play
- Unusual and/or pervasive interest. May talk incessantly about favourite topics
- Difficulty with understanding other people’s feelings. May result in inappropriate laughing
- Rigid behaviours/adherence to routines