Traumatic Brain Injury Centers

Even popular kids experience some feelings of exclusion and social clumsiness.  For a child with a Learning Disability (LD) or Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD, ADHD) or Asperger’s Syndrome, the social aspects of growing up are painful, embarrassing and often full of loneliness.  With the growth (real or illusionary) of school shootings like Columbine and Virginia Tech, the need to adequately socialize kids who live on the fringes of social networks has also exploded.

How can we help reach out to children who are lacking friends?   Here is some helpful information reported by our friends at LiveScience.com.

When a person feels authentic pride, he or she was more likely to score high on extraversion, agreeableness, genuine self-esteem and conscientiousness. Hubristic pride was most often linked with narcissism and shame.

Read the article here.

We as teachers and parents can capitalize on this information in two ways.  First, we can help a child avoid a potentially embarrassing situation.  Socially awkward kids possess few and weak social skills.  When they are having a bad day, don’t shove them into difficult (for them) social situations or force them to participate in group activities or play dates.  Since this is a challenging area for them, we need to build a track record of success and set them up for success by controlling some of the circumstances under which they interact with peers.

The second way we can use this information to help them make and keep friends is to build them up prior to an encounter.  On the way to the neighborhood birthday party, remind the child of their successes and accomplishments, and have them help you remember the things they are proud of.  The achievements can be social, or they can be academic, sports-related, or anything that helps them feel genuinely good.   Your child will feel better and perform better under social situations when they are feeling good–just like anyone else would!