4 Disorders That Impact Social Skills

We want to provide children with the tools they need to have meaningful, healthy lives, and this requires attention to social engagement.  An authentic connection with peers, the ability to share one’s experience and a sense of belonging are important for a healthy life. Beyond that, the nuances of your child’s social interactions can serve as a pointer of a larger diagnosis requiring intervention.

Most kids develop social skills by watching the natural social interactions around them.  Yet, for certain children acquiring social skills, and or implementing them may be tough. A child may have a hard time learning social skills at baseline, or they may develop a condition that may make it difficult for them to use the skills they already have.

In this blog we’ll look at 4 disorders that can impact social skills in children and adolescents. 

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

Social engagement innately involves the ability to listen, wait your turn and respond to another in an appropriate manner. These are things that can be challenging for with children with ADHD—especially moderate or severe ADHD.  A child with ADHD may interrupt their peers, blurt out things without thinking or cause disruptions in the classroom when hyperactive. This type of behavior, although unintentional may impede their ability to connect socially may   strain friendships.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder may also make it difficult for a child to attend or pay attention during a conversation. They may miss large chunks of a social interaction which may impact their ability to be fully present and engage with peers. This fragmented awareness might make a child with ADHD feel disconnected and more isolated from their peers.

Autism

Children with autism have difficulty understanding the perspective of their peers, and they have difficulty piecing together the social contexts of their environment.  As a result, jokes and social nuances may go over their head. Children with autism may also have difficulty relating to peers and engaging in conversations that interest children of the same age group. 

Children with autism may also have difficulty making eye contact, initiating social interactions with peers, and reading the non-verbal cues.

Anxiety

Anxiety can be an very internalized experience.  A child might outwardly appear anxious based on facial expression, fidgeting or their own verbal admission.  Yet, a lot of anxiety—especially pediatric anxiety goes unrecognized and undiagnosed. 

Difficulty engaging peers could be a sign that your child is dealing with anxiety. Children and teenagers with social anxiety worry about talking to others. They worry that they will “say the wrong thing”, “act weird”, or that others with judge them. These worries may cause them to avoid other children completely, make it difficult to make friends, or cause inhibition.

Children with generalized anxiety or Obessive Compuslive Disorder may become paralyzed by intrusive thoughts or ruminations.  These distressing thoughts can make a child stay to themselves. They can be consuming and distracting and  make it difficult to socialize.

[Anxiety Disorders In Children]

Stress or Trauma

A traumatic event can impact a child’s progression on their developmental trajectory.  It’s common for a child to regress or show a lack of developmental forward progress after a traumatic event. 

Stress and trauma exist on a spectrum, and the impact on a young mind and subsequent symptoms also widely vary.  A child may withdraw socially, exhibit anxiety or hyperactivity, or engage in disruptive behavior after experiencing trauma or significant stressor.

How to Get Your Child Help with Social Skills

It’s best to start with talking to your child’s pediatrician or seeking out a child psychiatrist for an evaluation.  The conditions mentioned about can be diagnosed based on clinical observation and parental report. Yet, sometimes when the diagnosis is unclear or when we want a definitive label, a child may be referred for psychologist testing.

There are different modalities of treatment that can help get social skills back on track such as psychotherapy, medication, occupation therapy, and speech therapy.

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