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Observational activity
Go to a playground and observe preschool children playing together. Look for situations when children are interacting and could use the help of an adult to make the interaction a more positive social experience for all the children involved. Make note of a situation where you, as an adult, could help these children achieve at least on of the following positive social goals:
1. Encouraging one child to help another person in some way.
2. Encouraging a child to use alternative ways of getting what she wants (in place of some "negative" way of reaching her goal.)
3. Helping a child gain insight into how another person feels.
4. Helping children work cooperatively to accomplish something together.
5. Helping children solve a situation involving sharing.
Activities for the classroom
You are now a teacher who is in charge of a group of 4-year-olds and this group includes a youngster named Susan who has been diagnosed as being "partially sighted." In her case this means that when she wears her glasses she sees large objects, particularly when there is a good contrast between dark and light ones. She needs to hold things very close to her face if the object is small, and she has normal intelligence. She loves going down the slide but is afraid of using the swings. She never plays in the sandbox because she fears other children will throw sand in her eyes. Despite the fact she sees better with her glasses on, she often takes them off and leaves them wherever she was last playing. She says the glasses make her nose hurt, look funny and she hates them.
Think about how you, as the teacher, would apply the 5 P's of teaching social skills to children with disabilities (Don't PITY or over-PROTECT these children. Do be PATIENT, PRESISTENT, and PRACTICAL.) when working with Susan.
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