Supporting Children’s Social Skills: Supporting Children to Connect, Play & Belong
Social skills can be defined as “socially acceptable learned behaviours that enable a person to interact with others in ways that elicit positive responses and assist the person in avoiding negative responses” (Elliott, Racine, & Busse, 1995). These skills have a big impact on a child’s self-esteem and are essential for successful social participation at home, school, and in the community.
Children use social skills whenever they communicate and interact with others. This includes relationships with family, friends at school, teammates, and later, work colleagues and community groups. Social skills can involve many different behaviours, such as using appropriate greetings, introducing themselves, asking someone to play, starting and maintaining a conversation, giving compliments, asking for help and taking turns in conversations and games.
When children find social skills challenging, they may struggle to make or keep friends, feel left out, or find group activities overwhelming. Over time, this can affect their confidence, participation, and overall wellbeing. Strengthening social skills helps children build friendships, feel included, and confidently join in the fun.
How parents can support social skills at home
Parents and caregivers play an important role in helping children learn and practise social skills in everyday life. Some simple ways to support social development include:
Modelling friendly behaviours such as greeting others, taking turns in conversation, and saying “please” and “thank you.”
Setting up play opportunities with peers (e.g., playdates, playground visits, group activities) so your child can practise sharing, turn-taking, and problem-solving.
Role-playing common social situations at home, such as asking someone to play, joining a group game, or what to say if someone says “no.”
Coaching your child with simple phrases they can use, like “Can I play too?”, “Do you want to share?”, or “Can I have a turn when you’re finished?”.
Praising specific social behaviours when you see them (for example, “I noticed you waited for your turn, that was really kind and patient”).
Supporting your child after tricky social moments by reflecting together on what happened and brainstorming what they could try next time.
Small, consistent practice in real-life situations helps children grow their confidence and develop a toolkit of social strategies they can use over time.
How we support social skills at Sunshine Speech & Allied Health
At Sunshine Speech & Allied Health, our Speech Pathologists and Occupational Therapists support children to develop social skills in fun, meaningful, and supportive ways. We recognise that each child has their own strengths, challenges, and interests, so we tailor our approach to fit the child and their everyday environments.
We may support social skills by:
Completing individualised assessments to understand a child’s social communication, play skills, sensory needs, and participation in different settings.
Using play-based activities, games, and role-play to teach and practise specific skills such as greeting others, joining in, turn-taking, and managing conflicts.
Providing small group sessions (where appropriate) so children can practise skills with peers in a structured, supported environment.
Using visual supports, social stories, and clear step-by-step teaching to help children understand social expectations.
Collaborating closely with parents, teachers, and other professionals to ensure strategies are used consistently across home, school, and community settings.
Our goal is to help children feel more confident and capable in their social world, so they can build friendships, feel included, and enjoy connecting with others in the activities that matter most to them.
Reference
Elliott, S. N., Racine, C. E., & Busse, R. T. (1995). Social skills. In A. Thomas & J. Grimes (Eds.), Best practices in school psychology III (pp. 1009–1020). National Association of School Psychologists.
Tanner, K., Handley-More, D., & Tanta, K. (2015). A program for pediatric occupational therapy group intervention to build social skills in children. Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 3(3), 1–13.
Eckberg Zylstra, S. (2024). Effectiveness of an occupational therapy-led social skills group intervention combined with parent training. Open Journal of Occupational Therapy, 12(1), 1–14.
