Some children, adolescents, and adults with ADHD can’t read others’ social cues, and don’t perceive how their body language and tone of voice are read by others.
) medications, attending social skills classes, and using cognitive behavioral therapy can help a child improve socially.
This is not the case for the challenges called pragmatic social skills problems. These are neurologically based, and are related to the brain’s ability to receive and process visual and auditory social cues. These problems are a major obstacle to a child trying to make and hold on to friends. Communicating with friends involves more than words. We communicate with facial expressions, gestures, eye contact, posture, and tone of voice. These make up nonverbal communication. Current studies suggest that nonverbal communication is a fully developed language, different from verbal communication and processed in different areas of the brain than visual or auditory communication. Nonverbal communication is not taught.
Nonverbal communication problems generally take one of two forms. In one scenario, the child or adult isof others. For example, the teacher stands in front of Billy’s desk, looking directly at him, her face taut. But it’s not until she says, “Stop that right now!” that Billy looks up, surprised. Billy did not pick up on the earlier cues that indicated his behavior was upsetting the teacher.In other cases, a child or adult is unable to recognize how others perceive her nonverbal cues.
Visual communication problems involve everything from not being able to recognize the emotions expressed by others’ facial expressions to violating another’s personal space. For instance, a child may not be able to recognize a happy or fearful face. He may stand too close to someone while talking, or hug and kiss a stranger. His posture may indicate anger when he intends to express friendliness.
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