It is hard to believe that it has been nearly three years since the initial COVID-19 lockdowns. And while this time has been challenging for us all, it has been especially difficult for our students who are dealing with social skills loss from the pandemic. What started out as a couple weeks of staying away from school, activities, and loved ones turned into years for the majority of the world.
Now, we are seeing the effects of these school lockdown efforts and policies that were not originally intended to last more than a month. Students of all ages and abilities are struggling with their social, emotional, mental, and physical development in ways that many of us have never seen before.
A recent survey of 362 school counselors nationwide conducted by The New York Times described their students as, “frozen, socially and emotionally, at the age they were when the pandemic started.” Additionally, school counselors reported witnessing a significant increase in their students:
- Showing signs of anxiety or depression
- Having trouble with emotional regulation
- Having trouble solving conflicts with friends
- Having trouble making new friends
- Having trouble collaborating on schoolwork with peers
So, how can we begin to address the social skills loss from the pandemic?
1. Understand the Importance of Socializing and Teaching Social Skills
In order to address social skills loss in our students, we must first understand why socializing and teaching social skills to students is so important in the first place!
Social development ultimately influences all other areas of student development. In other words, our children and adolescents need social interaction to thrive and encourage healthy brain development.
When our students socialize, they learn…
- How to interact with others
- Empathy skills
- Negotiation and compromise
- Social cues
- Social norms
- And more!
These skills are all intertwined and help encourage cognitive development, literacy development, and even physical development.
2. Prioritize and Encourage Play
Play is essential for our learners and can be one of the most beneficial ways to address social skills loss. Play serves as a way for students to learn and practice skills they will need in the future, especially social skills. During play, students are given ample opportunities to practice and discover how to follow rules, clue in to social cues, successfully interact with one another, compromise, and work together.
Everyday Speech now offers a variety of multiplayer games where you can encourage play and the development of social skills with your learners! Check out some of our favorites below:
3. Create Opportunities for Social Interaction
Because of the effects of the pandemic, the majority of our students now struggle to connect and even physically share a space with one another. This is why it is especially important to center your social skills teaching around social interactions themselves!
One of the best ways to do so is by forming a social skills group. Social skills groups are small groups (typically two to eight kids) often led by a school counselor, school social worker, or SLP. The goal of social skills groups is to practice building conversational, friendship, and problem-solving skills, to name a few. By participating in a social skills group, students will not only improve and build social skills, they will have FUN doing it!
Check out Everyday Speech’s games, interactive worksheets and activities, and our video-modeling lessons that you can use as the foundation of your after-school social skills group!
4. Give Grace
Last, but certainly not least, be sure to offer yourself and your students some grace when it comes to social and emotional skills loss and other effects of the pandemic that we are experiencing. We have all just lived through a once-in-a-lifetime, catastrophic event that has flipped the entire world upside down. With that, remember that it is okay for yourself and your students to not be 100% emotionally, mentally, or socially.
An excellent way to cultivate feelings of grace, compassion, empathy, and a sense of calm is through mindfulness. Everyday Speech has a variety of mindfulness videos and activities that are great for students of all ages and even educators like yourself!
Access More Materials to Address Social Skills Loss From the Pandemic
Are you looking for more materials to practice social skills in your classroom? Sign up for a free 30-day trial to sample our 40-week no-prep SEL curriculum, complete with videos, games, activities, and more to support your students in becoming SEL all-stars.
About the Author
Sydney Addis joined Everyday Speech in 2021 as a member of the clinical team. She holds a masters degree in Special Education with a certificate in Behavior Analysis from Arizona State University. Sydney has experience working in the public school setting, as well as a background in Applied Behavior Analysis where she worked as both a clinician and researcher at Michigan State University. She currently lives in Michigan with her husband and black lab, Otto. In her free time she enjoys reading, watching The Office, spending time outdoors hiking, snowboarding, mountain biking, and traveling.
