Social emotional development

[Anonymous]

Please don't use dolls or ask lots of questions. Get the Hanen book. It will help.

[Anonymous]

Post this in special needs. You will get more tips and suggestions there.

[Anonymous]

Special needs mom.

Children with developmental delays often have a lot of social emotional development (empathy is high) but have problems acting on emotions appropriately or engaging in appropriate group behavior.

Not being able to follow directions is not an example of lack of social development.

You can read a simple story with your child and ask him questions or make comments about the characters. Pull faces and see how he reacts. See if he understands emotions in the story. Reading Goldilocks -- Why do you think she's eating their food? Little bear is mad! Would you be mad? Me too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special needs mom.

Children with developmental delays often have a lot of social emotional development (empathy is high) but have problems acting on emotions appropriately or engaging in appropriate group behavior.

Not being able to follow directions is not an example of lack of social development.

You can read a simple story with your child and ask him questions or make comments about the characters. Pull faces and see how he reacts. See if he understands emotions in the story. Reading Goldilocks -- Why do you think she's eating their food? Little bear is mad! Would you be mad? Me too!

Not being able to follow directions could be due to a receptive delay, cognitive issues, nascent but yet undiagnosed ADHD, poor motor planning skills, not necessarily anything to do with social development.

Why questions put a lot of demand on a child and they may not be able to answer for a variety of reasons not necessarily because they don't understand. Simplify language. A 2.5 year old doesn't necessarily need a running commentary during a story. Maybe encourage a child by saying, "little bear looks...pause". The child may "mad." If the don't, you fill it in and keep on reading the story.

Communication is part of social development. Here are some tips to foster it, op:
https://www.asha.org/public/speech/development/Parent-Stim-Activities/

[Anonymous]

You should talk to your psychologist. I am a developmental psychologist and I can barely interpret what your psychologist is trying to get at about your son. If you want tips for ways to support his social and emotional development or want to better understand how he might be lagging a bit behind developmentally, you should ask those exact questions from your psychologist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, shouldn't the psychologist who said that to you be the one answering that question?

OP here. Yes, the psychologist did answer my question, but I am not sure if I understand it correctly or not and what to do about it. Psychologist says that when it comes to a little bit complex social play or social cues, my DS does not get it. For example, during the evaluation, DS had no problem playing with him throwing ball & catching bubble. But when it comes to when the psychologist wants him to copy him the way how he stacks the blocks or the way he plays with the toy in a specific way, my DS does not get it even doctor showing him same examples multiple times, and he does not seem to understand what is going on, and doing in his own way. Originally I thought it is normal toddler behavior, but psychologist points out that the reason my DS did not do it because he did not get it (looks confused), not because he did not want to do it or could not do it. The psychologist looked at him in the eyes so intensively during the whole appointment, and trying to read through his mind like a hawk. Unfortunately, I was holding him on my lap the whole time, so I don't really get the chance to see DS's facial expression & eye contact during the almost 3 hour evaluation.

This doesn't sound like an emotional intelligence issue, OP.

I tend to agree. OP, you said your child has a language and cognitive delay. Did the doctor explain how much delay, or what the "age equivalent" was? It could be your child's ability to understand what the doctor wanted was appropriate for his cognitive level. Does your DS do other simple imitation, like clapping if you clap, or if you show how to feed a doll with a bottle would he do that in imitation?

OP here. I am not sure about my DS's "age equivalent" of language & cognitive delay, but I would say his expressive language delay is kind of severe, for being 2.5 years old only has less than 10 words (including sign language & make up words). For his cognitive delay, I am not sure yet because he is not in daycare yet, but I would say he is good at simple pretend play (e.g. cooking/little people go to school/feed doll & put doll to sleep), but he does not understand the more complicated ones (e.g. one doll is mommy, one doll is baby, so they should act different role)(e.g. one toy car is going slower because he is sick) (e.g. he does not understand why this boy is unhappy in the storybook because his ice cream got taken away) something like that. He can do simple imitation, like clapping hand if I clap, feed a doll with a bottle if I do it, but he cannot imitate me if I put blocks in certain pattern (like 4 blocks lining up in a row).

It sounds like your psychologist did a lengthy evaluation and you got the results of that, is that right? Is there a follow-up planned, or speech or other supportive therapy planned? If so, I would go to your next meeting and ask the psychologist to show you examples of children who are doing the kinds of things he suggests your child is not currently able to do, so that you can see/understand it better. Then I would ask what you can do with him at home to support this. I assume he'll be starting intervention services and if so, the therapists working with your son should be able to give you things you can do at home. I will say that with language and cognitive delays, it becomes harder to assess social skills because they are often dependent on language and cognition.