Social Competence Of Young Children

One succinct yet thorough resource for administrators who work with children birth-five with social competence difficulties.

What determines the focus of a researcher's interest, the sources of inspiration for a study, or the variables scrutinized? If we were to examine the antecedents of these decisions, they would surely emerge as accidents of circumstance--the personal experiences of the researcher, the inspiration of early mentors, the influence of contemporary colleagues--all tempered by the intellectual currents that nurture the researcher's hypotheses. Among the accidents that mold the careers of researchers is geographic location. The culture in which a research program emerges helps determine both its very subject and its method. The primary purpose of this book is to assist those interested in the scientific study of children's social competence in transcending the boundaries imposed both by geography and by selective exposure to the highly diverse schools of thought that have led to interest in this field. Most of these ideas were presented and exchanged at an Advanced Study Institute entitled "Social Competence in Developmental Perspective" held in Savoie, France, in July 1988. This Institute was attended by scholars from France, England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Canada, the United States and Brazil. Those who participated will recognize that the metamorphosis from lecture to chapter has necessitated many changes. In order to accommodate the reader who may be unfamiliar with the field, more attention has been paid here to identifying the theoretical contexts of the research described.

This timely collection explores how children display social competence in talking about their mental health and wellbeing. The authors analyse recorded conversations of young people’s interactions with professionals in which they disclose particular mental health concerns and their ways of coping, drawing on insights from ethnomethodology, conversation analysis and discursive psychology. Across a diverse range of institutional and international settings, chapters examine how children and young people employ interactional strategies to demonstrate their competence. The research reveals how young people resist or protect claims that they lack competence, especially in contexts where they might be seen as seeking or asking for support, or when their (dis)abilities and mental health is explicitly up for discussion. Each chapter concludes with a reflection on the methodological, professional and practical implications of the findings, highlighting areas where future research is necessary and addressing the empirical findings from the authors professional vision, facilitating innovative dialogue between conversation analytic research and professional vision. This book will be of great value to academics and professionals interested in how children express themselves, particularly in relation to their mental wellbeing.

CD-ROM: Includes the Environmental Screening questionnaire and the Social Emotional Assessment/Evaluation Measure, experimental ed. for infant, toddler and preschool-age.

A text which addresses the relationship between childhood, competence and the social arenas of action in which children live their lives. Taking issue with the view that children are merely apprentice adults, the contributors develop a picture of children as competent, sophisticated social agents, focusing on the contexts which both enable and constrain that competence.

In this book, readers will discover a developmental view of social functioning in children at different stages. Chapters are based in transactional theory in that the environment plays a role in the development of social competence skills as well as the biological contributions the child brings to his/her experiences. The familial and school contributions to social understanding are discussed in this volume.