Module 6: Social Skills and Perspective taking, mental flexibility

Jonny has many challenges in independent participation in his preschool setting, even when provided with antecedent supports such as social stories and review of the rules for play during free time. Jonny’s difficulties lie in the areas of perspective taking and social referencing ( attention, eye gaze and joint attention).

Jonny has many special interests that he enjoys engaging in during free play time. One of them is dressing up in a cowboy costume and walking around the room. He enjoys other children and tries to get some of them to participate in the dress up routine, but he attempts to specify the costume the other child should use. His lack of perspective taking makes it difficult for him to understand it when the child protests using the particular costume and decides to play something else. In addition, if a child does decide to play, he becomes so consumed in walking around with his costume he forgets the other child is also playing with him.

Social referencing is also an area that affects Jonny’s interactions with others in the classroom. He has difficulty in maintaining attention during circle and often needs to be called personally to respond while many others have answered chorally. He needs more specific and repeated attempts by staff to get his attention in order to get him to follow a point or a gaze toward the area that has the item of interest that the teacher is discussing. When Jonny tries to express himself, he is often turned away from his peers and is not able to modulate his voice to be sure that he is heard and understood. In addition , unless an adult tells him, he will continue repeating the same message over and over, not realizing that he needs to modify his delivery and not sure how to go about doing it when he does. The lack of response to his requests results in Jonny getting very ‘whiny’ and upset, and he sometimes drops to the floor and refuses to participate further.