215: Why will no-one play with me?

Does your child have big emotional blow-ups in social situations? Are they a wallflower who doesn't know how to make friends? Do they struggle to understand when it's appropriate to interrupt, tell the truth, and follow the rules vs. let things go? I've been interested in neurodivergence for a while - I'm hoping to do an episode soon on parenting with ADHD, and in the course of research for that a parent in the Parenting Membership recommended the book Why Will No-One Play With Me. The book is designed to help parents teach their children social skills - and I do think it has some useful ideas in it, but there are some pretty big caveats. This episode takes a look at the broader set of research on teaching children social skills to ask whether we CAN do it and if we can, whether we SHOULD do it and if we should, what kinds of tools should we use? The popular Social Stories method? Role plays? Peer coaching? This episode answers questions like: What types of teaching are likely to be beneficial? How can we teach social skills to Autistic children and children with ADHD, as well as neurotypical children? What are the potential later-life impacts of lagging social skills (and do what we miss when we look at it from this perspective)? At what age range is teaching social skills is most likely to succeed? How can we know whether we should teach a child social skills?