Do children who easily master cognitive information find mastering social skills easy as well?
Nancy: Absolutely not. Many children who have compromised or limited social skills are cognitively brilliant. The world often assumes that an intelligent child will learn social skills in an automatic and intuitive way. It can be surprising that a child who can easily master academic material in the classroom has difficulty with what seems like such basic skills as initiating play or conversation, winning and losing a game, or transitioning from one task to another. For so many of our children the world is a confusing and demanding place because of this. People say, “Well he`s smart, he must know not to X,Y or Z (whatever the behaviors might be). Why does he start to throw a tantrum when we need to go to gym?” It doesn`t seem to make sense. People need to realize that they are looking at two different systems — a cognitive system and a social one. The good news is that the kids who are cognitively bright can learn the social stuff. As Barbara said, it`s difficult for the kids, but ove
