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Social Thinking and its Impact on Ac . . .
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Second Grade
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Children in the spectrum begin to perform below grade level in some areas.
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As they fall farther behind on reading comprehension they start to lose interest in reading because they cannot understand what they have read.
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They begin to slip farther behind in their writing and often exhibit behavior issues when asked to write. Many will refuse to even make an attempt at writing.
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Math skills are still strong but they find it increasingly more difficult to understand the language of math causing them become confused and upset.
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Science and social studies can be fun still, but now they are expected to write their findings and may start to resist doing the work.
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They begin to be loners as other children have given up on engaging them in cooperative play.
Third Grade
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Children in the spectrum often fall a full grade behind as the curriculum becomes increasingly abstract. School becomes a lot of work and more negative behaviors erupt.
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They have fallen significantly behind in reading and cannot get important information from most grade level texts.
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They are unable to organize their writing and are still struggling with forming their letters.
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Every subject requires them to write including math where they are now required to write what they were thinking when solving the problem.
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They have the added challenge of understanding math story problems, which is particularly difficult since their reading comprehension is so far behind.
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They still enjoy the hands on activities in science and social stories but refuse to do the work as it involves a significant amount of writing.
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They start wanting to play with other children but are often rejected and teased because they are viewed as quirky and strange.
As the grades progress they become more and more frustrated and anxiety increases as their academics steadily fall farther behind. They don't understand why they are struggling so much academically and they begin feeling lonely because they don't fit in socially.
What is causing this pattern that seems so similar with children within the autism spectrum? According to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition these children have the following diagnoses criterion:
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marked impairment in the use of multiple nonverbal behaviors such as eye-to-eye gaze, facial expression, body postures, and gestures to regulate social interaction;
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failure to develop peer relationships appropriate to developmental level;
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a lack of spontaneous seeking to share enjoyment, interests or achievement with other people;
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lack of social or emotional reciprocity.
In other words they have significant lack in social abilities. These social deficits reach well beyond forgetting to say hello to someone or use please and thank you. They reflect a difference in the way these children think about and view the world around them. They don't know how to think socially and this lack in social thinking can have a serious affect on their academic skills.
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