In the past few weeks we have discussed Executive Function Disorder and how it can impact on our children’s behavior. Many times children have difficulties in the areas of Executive Function. We talked about how Executive Functions encompass the following areas, Inhibition, Working memory, Organization of Materials and Self-Monitoring.
We also discussed that Executive Function Disorder strongly relates to deficiencies in crucial emotional and physiological development, referred to as Executive Skills. Executive Skills encompass the following areas:Language Development, Language Processing, Emotional Regulation Skills, Cognitive Flexibility Skills and Social Skills. We covered the Executive Skills, of Language Development and Language Processing, Emotional Regulation and Cognitive Flexibility Skills. Today we will discuss the Executive Skill called Social Skills:
Social Skills
Social interactions require so much flexibility, complex thinking, and rapid processing.
Ross W. Greene in his book “The Explosive Child” gives an excellent example:
“Let’s say a boy is standing in the hallway at school and a peer comes up and, with a big smile on his face whacks the boy hard on the back and says, “Hi!” The boy who was whacked on the back now has a split second to attend to and try to pick up on the important qualities of the social cues of the situation. (Who just whacked me on the back? Aside from the person’s smile, is there anything about his posture or facial expression or this context that tells me whether this was a friendly or unfriendly smile and whack?)
At the same time he must connect those cues with his previous experiences (When have other people, and this person in particular, whacked me on the back and smiled at me before?) in order to interpret the cue (Was this an over-exuberant greeting or an aggressive attack?) Then he has to think about what he wants to have happen next (That was a mean thing to do…I’d like to avoid getting into a fight with this person or That was a nice greeting…I would like to play a game with him.) Then on the basis of his interpretation of the cue and the outcome he desires, the boy must begin to think about how to respond, either by remembering his experiences in similar situations or by thinking of new responses. Then he must evaluate the different possible responses, consider the likely outcomes of each (If I smile back, he’ll probably ask me to play a game with him) choose a response, enact it, monitor the course of events throughout and adjust the response accordingly.
Sounds like a lot of thinking for one event, yes? The key point is that this process is nonstop and requires a lot of efficiency and flexibility. It’s barely noticeable to people for whom it happens automatically, but it’s very frustrating if you’re not one of those people.”
Most of us probably have never thought about the pieces and parts that are involved in a simple social interaction. Seeing it broken down in this way is helpful to parents and teachers (It certainly was for me) and gives them better clues on how to help children who have difficulty in this area.
Executive Skills — Language Development, Language Processing, Emotional Regulation Skills, Cognitive Flexibility Skills and Social Skills — are a diverse, but related and overlapping, set of skills. It is difficult to look at them separately. I hope this series of posts has shed light on this interesting and complex topic.
As I mentioned in our last post, we are reviewing a lot of information here. We are working on putting this all together in a report form for our subscribers.
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