Speech-Language Pathologist Bianca Corozzo explains to all of us why social-emotional literacy is just as valuable as all other types of development for children. We hope that you find this as valuable a read as we did! Enjoy.
Which is More Important, Reading Books or Reading People?
When I was a child, the mark of academic success was reading, writing and mathematics achievement. While these skills are still measured in schools, current research has been pointing to social emotional literacy as a major indicator of success in adulthood. As a parent, a Speech-Language Pathologist and a School Administrator, I can assure you that a child’s social-emotional literacy are an essential skill set needed for life, and cannot be ignored. Many schools have implemented social-emotional literacy programs, but as a parent you are your child’s first teacher. The following are some ideas to help foster social-emotional literacy with your child:
- Putting a “label” on emotions: Sometimes children feel something, but they cannot articulate it. By giving your child the vocabulary needed for them to pinpoint what they are feeling, they can communicate this with you more easily.
- Identifying the emotions of others: Approximately 80% of a message is delivered non-verbally. This means that facial expressions, tone of voice and body language provide more clues to the meaning of a message than the actual words. Often we use sarcasm and analogies in conversation; however those language skills are not intact for children until about 8 years old. This makes using sarcasm with children extremely confusing for them, as your verbal and non-verbal messages are completely different. This can be taught by slowly helping your child “translate” when someone is sending a conflicting message.
- Empathizing with others: Children by nature are the centers of their own universe, and as parents we tend to follow suit. By giving your child the opportunity to identify with the emotions of others, they will begin to develop empathy. Empathy does not develop naturally; it must be explicitly taught.
- Metacognition: This is just a fancy term for, “thinking about our thinking.” Metacognition is an executive function, and helps us with life skills such as Social Emotional Literacy. This also must be explicitly taught to children, simply by helping them talk things out before your child acts upon an impulse. For instance, if your child is prone to having temper tantrums when they go into new environments, you might have an age appropriate conversation about what they can expect, what to do if they feel nervous or upset and what will happen if they have a temper tantrum. While this is not fool-proof, it is essential that children are taught how to plan things out in their minds.
- Appropriate responses to emotions: More often than not, when children act out it is for two reasons: it is either a learned behavior (they act a certain way to get a certain reaction) or it is due to anxiety. Children are not born with the ability to regulate their emotions; this needs to be taught. This can be done through conversations about how to react in high-anxiety situations, not simply about punishments and rewards.
While teaching all of these skills to your child may seem overwhelming, just remember: you are constantly teaching your child through your actions and words. By using some of the suggestions listed in this article, you can begin to have more deliberate, strategic conversations with your child to help them build their Social Emotional Literacy.
Bianca Corozzo, M.S. CCC-SLP is a Licensed Speech-Language Pathologist with over 15 years of experience in the field. Her areas of expertise are primarily in literacy and child language disorders. In addition to her work with clients of all ages, her supervisory and school leadership experience have provided Bianca with the skills necessary to become the founder of H&B Learning. Her goal is to ensure parents and their children are equipped with the necessary resources to be successful in both school and in life. In addition to this work, she is an active alumnus of St. John’s University as President of the Lambda Phi Alumni Association and volunteers as a Girl Scout Troop Leader. For more information, Bianca can be reached at (347) 474-8162 or bianca@handblearning.com