Behavior & Social Skills
Social competence and emotional well-being are issues for some adults and children with learning disabilities. Being liked, feeling accepted, and having self-confidence are all related to an individual’s social skills. Included in this section are the “dos and don'ts” for fostering social competence, the teacher’s role in developing social skills, and many helpful articles on behavior modification, anger management, disciplining students with disabilities, and the emotional issues experienced by some individuals with LD.
There are 70 articles in this section.
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Children use executive function to plan, organize, strategize, pay attention, manage details, and schedule themselves. Read this fact sheet from the National Center for Children with Learning Disabilities for helpful strategies.
Social Skill Autopsies: A Strategy to Promote and Develop Social Competencies
Rick Lavoie teaches the social skill autopsy- a strategy to help your child or student learn from their social errors. Turn those embarrassing incidents into teachable moments- and help the person with a learning disability to correct their mistakes and not repeat them. If you are a person with a learning disability, consider sending this article to a trusted mentor or friend.
Advice to Kids with Learning or Social Problems About Siblings
Does your child with social skills difficulties have trouble with their brothers and sisters? Read them this advice which is written just for them! And then read the section for you, the parent. Richard Lavoie gives powerful advice on how all people in the family can get along.
Understanding Sensory Integration
Sensory integration is a theory that explains why children respond in a certain way to touch, sounds, and other senses. Some children have sensory integration dysfunction, which influences their behavior. Learn about this disorder and how to treat it.
Social and Emotional Problems Related to Dyslexia
Dyslexia is not an emotional disorder, but the frustrating nature of this learning disability can lead to feelings of anxiety, anger, low self–esteem and depression. Read scenarios in the dyslexic child's life that can give rise to social and emotional difficulties. Discover how to help children deal successfully with these challenges.
ADHD: Same Label, Different Settings
My overall approach in solving behavioral problems is crystallized in the title of a small book I wrote for School-Age Notes in 1995, Discipline in School-Age Care: Control the Climate, Not the Children. In it, I asked providers to think about an essential question: Do the behavior problems we see "live" within certain children and will they inevitably act out these unacceptable behaviors once they enter our space? Or do they "come alive" in our environments?
Strategies for Teaching Youth with ADD and ADHD
Strategies that promote success for students with ADD and ADHD are described including behavior management, modification, preparing your students to learn at the beginning of the lesson, keeping the students on task, making the lessons more interesting and homework.
Teaching Social Skills to Kids Who Don't Yet Have Them
Teachers: Do your students have trouble getting along with others — and getting along with you? Do you tell them to stop doing it — but they keep on doing it? Learn to understand and teach your students with social skills problems. Learn why they have these problems and how to teach them better behavior. Read about Social Skills training and the steps to follow in implementing it.
Motivation: The Key to Academic Success
Motivation is key to school success. Just as the actor asks a director, "What is my motivation, for this scene?," the child turns to teachers, parents, and peers to discover the "why" of learning. Motivation is often defined as a need or drive that energizes behavior toward a goal.
Ten Ways We Distort Our Thoughts
A Ray of Hope in the Juvenile Justice System
Special needs adolescents face particular challenges from a behavioral point of view. This article describes how a local family court in New York examines more than just the crime for juvenile offenders, with special focus on proper educational placement.
Family mealtimes are a great way to reinforce communication skills and promote early literacy and good behavior with your child. Read on to learn how to with some simple activities designed to encourage language, problem solving, good habits.
Lazy Kid or Executive Dysfunction?
Learn to help your students with executive dysfunction organize themselves to do their schoolwork. Learn how executive dysfunction impacts their daily lives. Read tips to help them manage their time, their space, their materials, and ultimately their education.
Past research has shown that children with learning disabilities are at a greater risk of being rejected by their peers than those without LD. This study examines the friendship patterns of children to determine whether or not learning disabilities affect the quality or quantity of friendship.
Environmental Modification of APD at Home
Behavior Modification in the Classroom
Anger Overload in Children: Diagnostic and Treatment Issues
Anger overload is a condition in which a child becomes totally consumed by angry thoughts and feelings. This article describes diagnostic cues for anger overload and outlines effective treatment strategies.
