Thoughts on Reading Social Cues
The ability to read social cues is a foundational aspect of social and emotional learning. It is also a lifelong and constantly evolving skill. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve misread a situation or responded inappropriately or wished I could take my words back. Reading social skills is fluid and can be complicated to navigate. It involves a great deal of nuance.
Our twins were born prematurely and like many children who are born early, they needed extra help with learning social skills. There is a lot of brain development that happens in the final months of pregnancy so it is quite common for children who were born prematurely to need additional help with academic work but also with social/emotional skills. The social skills therapy and early intervention we did with our twins opened my eyes to the incredible power and value of teaching children to read social cues. It is both complicated and deeply rewarding work.
I’ve put together a new social emotional learning unit that outlines four of the main skills that we focused on with our children. In the beginning of our therapy work with the twins I felt deeply overwhelmed. It was very helpful for me to focus on taking my one right next step. When I would feel the overwhelm creeping in, I would tell myself, “Just focus on one skill today. Just one. What is the one right next thing to teach them?”
I’ve put together a new social emotional learning unit that outlines four of the main area that we focused on with our children. This unit is very much a labor of love. I got emotional at several points as I was writing it because I could pinpoint in my mind moments of deep frustration and moments of deep joy as we walked through these skills (and continue to!) with our children.
Click HERE to grab these freebie worksheets!
The unit is broken into four main sections:
What is a social cue?
How can you read a social cue? How can you be a social scientist and discover cues around you? Can you gather data and information by reading social cues like.a scientist?
Noticing & Wondering — What do you notice about a situation? What do you wonder
about it?
Your Social Cues Toolbox - What tools do you already have? What skills are you working on?
You can try the first section for free by clicking here. The full unit can be found here. The unit includes social stories, group discussions, cut-and-paste activities and writing prompts. It is geared for children 5-8 years old but parts of it could be adapted for younger or older children. It can be used in a classroom or in a social skills group or a homeschool setting. I deeply hope it helps the children in your life to thrive!
May we have patience with ourselves and with our little people as we wade into this complicated, nuanced and deeply rewarding area of social emotional learning.