Social Competence and Cognitive Strategy Use in Early School Years

Abstract

Occupational performance at school requires that children engage in everyday social activities which involve learning and interacting with others. Social competence refers to how well children are able to evaluate social situations, and to select and apply social behaviours that are the most appropriate to a given social context. Occupational therapists are increasingly referred children who experience reduced social competence. Research indicates that social competence is influenced by use of cognitive strategies. Cognitive strategies are mental thinking tactics or task approach methods selected and applied to guide cognition. Little is known however about the nature of social cognitive strategy use or how it may be observed and addressed in children during performance of social occupations. There were three primary aims of this research, which were to: investigate the nature and expectations of cognitive strategy use in the context of social competence at school; to investigate the difficulties in social skills and associated cognitive strategy use experienced by children who are referred to occupational therapy for assistance with social competence; and to investigate the impact of the Perceive, Recall, Plan and Perform (PRPP) System of Intervention on social competence during playground activities in children in the first four years of formal schooling. The study was carried out in three sequential phases. Phase One used a content analysis design to identify social skills and associated cognitive strategies represented in the New South Wales (NSW) Kindergarten to Grade 6 Syllabuses. Phase Two used factor analysis techniques to explore parent and teacher perceptions of children’s social skills and associated cognitive strategies during every day social tasks. Phase Three adopted a quantitative experimental, cross-over design to evaluate the impact of the PRPP Intervention on social competence for a group of children in the first four years of formal schooling.