Language and Communication Skills A child's competence withlanguage is highly likely to affect the extent and quality of her/his social relationships. As significant conversational ability develops at approximately 2Vi years, social interaction increases simultaneously (Holmberg, Note 2). Children whose language and comprehension skills are limited may be hampered in their ability to communicate and interact with •their peers. Certainly, the relationship between language com-petence and competence in other areas has been documented (Ap-pleton, Clifton, & Goldberg, 1975). Social play requires at least some level of adequate communi-cation skills (Asher, Oden, & Gottman, 1977), e.g., the ability to share a theme of an activity and develop it (Garvey, 1976). Little is known yet about the relative importance of deficits in specific com-munication skills, and further, few effects have been noted as a function of training. It is probable that children with less verbal ability, e.g., younger or handicapped, are less likely to profit from skills training involving verbal instruction or complex language per-formance. And. whereas language skills may not be related to social competence among prelingual toddlers, as the child develops, lan-guage may play a more crucial role. Preliminary analyses of our data show a significant but low correlation between measures of listener vocabulary and knowledge of basic concepts in preschool children and both teacher ratings of social behavior and peer popularity. It appears, then, that language has some role to play in a child's social competence, and the practitioner would be wise to consider the socially withdrawn child's language capabilities before at-tempting remediations which otherwise may prove ineffective. Motor Skills A series of studies of elementary school children from 4th through 7th grades found consistent and significant relationships between their performance on physical measures and social status as measured by socio-metrics (Broekhoff, 1976, 1977, in press). Com-parisons of high and low status contrast groups indicated that signifi-cant differences were maintained over the three years on physical fitness and indices of muscular strength. Thus, it seems logical to

Abstract

Language and Communication Skills A child's competence withlanguage is highly likely to affect the extent and quality of her/his social relationships. As significant conversational ability develops at approximately 2Vi years, social interaction increases simultaneously (Holmberg, Note 2). Children whose language and comprehension skills are limited may be hampered in their ability to communicate and interact with •their peers. Certainly, the relationship between language com-petence and competence in other areas has been documented (Ap-pleton, Clifton, & Goldberg, 1975). Social play requires at least some level of adequate communi-cation skills (Asher, Oden, & Gottman, 1977), e.g., the ability to share a theme of an activity and develop it (Garvey, 1976). Little is known yet about the relative importance of deficits in specific com-munication skills, and further, few effects have been noted as a function of training. It is probable that children with less verbal ability, e.g., younger or handicapped, are less likely to profit from skills training involving verbal instruction or complex language per-formance. And. whereas language skills may not be related to social competence among prelingual toddlers, as the child develops, lan-guage may play a more crucial role. Preliminary analyses of our data show a significant but low correlation between measures of listener vocabulary and knowledge of basic concepts in preschool children and both teacher ratings of social behavior and peer popularity. It appears, then, that language has some role to play in a child's social competence, and the practitioner would be wise to consider the socially withdrawn child's language capabilities before at-tempting remediations which otherwise may prove ineffective. Motor Skills A series of studies of elementary school children from 4th through 7th grades found consistent and significant relationships between their performance on physical measures and social status as measured by socio-metrics (Broekhoff, 1976, 1977, in press). Com-parisons of high and low status contrast groups indicated that signifi-cant differences were maintained over the three years on physical fitness and indices of muscular strength. Thus, it seems logical to