scholarly journals Why Some Children Come to School with “Baggage”: The Effects of Trauma Due to Poverty, Attachment Disruption and Disconnection on Social Skills and Relationships

Author(s):  
Irene G Wilkinson

Children living in adverse conditions of poverty and/or abuse or in institutional or foster care, suffer physiological changes in their developing brains which negatively affect their social skills and therefore their ability to socialize and form meaningful connections with others. Impeded social skills development also interferes with children’s ability to demonstrate self-control, to learn and to demonstrate appropriate behaviour. Their physical and emotional health and wellbeing also suffer. Without greater understanding, intervention and support from schools, the future for these children continues to look extremely bleak. The emotional and social costs are high. This paper looks at the effects of trauma due to poverty, parent-child separation (attachment disruption) and disconnection on social skills development in children and the reasons why some children who have experienced adversity early in their lives, come to school with “baggage”. It takes a cursory look at the effects of emotional trauma on the developing brain and examines why affected children often demonstrate anti-social behaviour and struggle with forming meaningful relationships and learning in school. Also considered are the problems encountered by some children at the upper end of the socioeconomic spectrum, most particularly their difficulties making friends.

2003 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Dowling ◽  
Suellen Saunders ◽  
Cathy Marcus ◽  
Evan Langholt ◽  
J. Ashby

2015 ◽  
Vol 117 (7) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Michael A. Gottfried ◽  
Morgan S. Polikoff

Background/Context Though the development of social skills in kindergarten is critical, a research gap exists in how the context of the general education classroom may influence the social skills outcomes of students with disabilities: None have considered the role of peer effects in this domain. This gap is critical to address, as multiple high-needs groups are increasingly present in the same general education classroom settings. Purpose/Objective This study asks two key research questions: (1) In kindergarten, to what extent do the classroom social skills outcomes of children with disabilities differ based on the number of ELL classmates? (2) In kindergarten, to what extent do the classroom social skills outcomes of ELL students differ based on the number of classmates with disabilities? Population/Participants The data are sourced from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study-Kindergarten Class (ECLS-K), which is a nationally representative sample of students, teachers, and schools. Information was first collected from kindergartners (as well as parents, teachers, and school administrators) from U.S. kindergarten programs. This study utilizes data collected at the fall and spring of kindergarten. Research Design This study combines secondary data analyses and quasi-experimental methods. There are three social skills outcomes: (1) approaches to learning, (2) interpersonal skills, and (3) self control. The study begins with a baseline, linear regression model. To address issues pertaining to omitted variable bias, the study employs multilevel fixed effects modeling. Findings The coefficients indicate that students with disabilities tend to have improved social skills with an increase in the number of ELL classmates. The effects remain significant even after accounting for multiple omitted variable biases. Notably, the reverse relationship does not hold: The number of classmates with disabilities has no significant influence on the outcomes of ELL students. Conclusions/Recommendations This research offers more in-depth insight into how the classroom context and the effects of classmates may have a unique relationship for specific high-needs groups such as students with disabilities—a strand of research in this area that is often overlooked. School practices can thus be guided by determining not simply if one group of students performs better or worse on average, but rather by asking, better or worse for whom in particular?


2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted Hayduk ◽  
Matthew Walker

Work in relationship marketing (RM) has implied that most large sport properties fail to enact sport relationship marketing (SRM) tactics that establish meaningful connections with consumers. Work in entrepreneurial marketing (EM) suggests that small businesses must innovate to implement elements of EM due to inherent resource constraints. Therefore, exploring SRM in an entrepreneurial, innovation-dependent context like small sport businesses (SSBs) may help explain why large sport fi rms struggle with SRM. Therefore, we examined whether SSBs’ marketing activities are generative of RM-specific outcomes and attempted to identify when and how these relationships can be augmented. Results from a dynamic panel estimator carried out on a sample of 332 SSBs over a 22-year span indicate that SSBs accrue only some of the benefits to be expected in the presence of successful SRM, highlighting the need to understand why sport properties of all sizes struggle to build meaningful relationships.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Bayley ◽  
Darge Wole Meshesha ◽  
Paul Ramchandani ◽  
Pauline Rose ◽  
Tassew Woldehanna ◽  
...  

This paper presents the findings of research undertaken in Ethiopia to examine the effects of COVID-19 school closures on children’s holistic learning, including both socio-emotional and academic learning. It draws on data collected in 2019 (prior to the pandemic) and 2021 (after schools reopened) to compare primary pupils’ learning before and after the school closures. In particular, the study adapts self-reporting scales that have been used in related contexts to measure Grade 3 and 6 children’s social skills, self-efficacy, emotional regulation and mental health and wellbeing, along with literacy and numeracy. Lesson observations were also undertaken to explore teachers’ behaviours to foster socio-emotional learning (SEL) in the classroom. The findings advance current knowledge in several respects. First, they quantify the decline in Ethiopian pupils’ social skills over the period of the school closures. Second, they identify a significant and strong relationship between learners’ social skills and their numeracy, even after taking other factors into account. Third, they reveal a significant association between children’s social skills and their mental health and wellbeing, highlighting the importance of interpersonal interactions to safeguard children’s holistic welfare. The paper concludes by proposing a model for understanding the relationship between learners’ SEL and academic outcomes, and with recommendations for education planning and practice, in Ethiopia and elsewhere.


2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (29) ◽  
pp. 315
Author(s):  
Traore Massandjé ◽  
Crizoa Hermann ◽  
N’goran N’faissoh Franck Stéphane

This study aims to explain the link between the social skills acquired within families and the resilience to the criminal act in young people living in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Abobo. The research was carried out in Abobo commune and involved 74 participants from different social categories. The collection of information relating to the object of study was based on questionnaire, interview and observation. The information collected was analyzed from a quantitative and qualitative point of view. The results of the study indicate that youth who are resilient to delinquency in the community are of all ages and both sexes. The study shows that the resilience to the criminal act in certain young people living in the precarious neighborhoods of the Abobo commune is explained by the ability to ask for help, self-control, development of a sense of autonomy and a projection into the future.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 96
Author(s):  
Maria Mpella ◽  
Christina Evaggelinou

This systematic review cites a number of programs and critically analyzes methods and measures used to develop social skills in young students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Social skills are interpreted through a ToM theory lens, emphasizing interactions such as understanding, explaining, predicting, and manipulating the behavior of themselves and the others. The aim of this review is to study the role of the theatrical play programs and its effect on social interactions and social skills on students with ASD. An online search through Proquest and First Search resulted in twelve studies of diverse methodologies. All these studies support the value of theatrical play as a means of social skill development. More specifically, the qualitative, as well as the quantitative data, indicate the benefits of these programs on ASD students’ social skills such as cooperation, communication, and social awareness. More longitudinal studies are needed to develop and test pedagogical strategies for social skills development of ASD students in light of theatrical play activities. In addition, studies should be geared towards the teacher’s ability to teach theatrical play and thus promote social interaction between students with and without ASD in integrated school environments. Synchronizing theory with art and cooperative play seems to be the key to answer such assumptions positively.


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