By Anna Llobet and Naila Barceló
Loneliness, Peer Relations, and Language Disorder in Childhood
The prevalence of loneliness among children with language disorders is higher than 8-12% (the rates for normative samples). This article will discuss difficulties in peer relations which are a major cause of loneliness and children with language disorders are clearly at increased risk for peer relationship difficulties.
The aim in this article is to pay special attention to the issue of loneliness in children with language and communication problems.
One of his subgoals is to highlight recent advances in the assessment of children’s peer relations, his adjustment in their peer relations in different dimensions; and which intervention can help them at improving their peer relations and reducing their feeling of loneliness. This article will discuss about this dimension and how it affects children’s feelings of loneliness at school.
LANGUAGE, COMMUNICATION DISORDER AND PEER PROBLEMS
Language impairment influences children’s relations with their peers and communicative competence is associated with peer social status (Hazen and Black’s, 1989).
The communication patterns associated with peer rejection in normative population it’s similar to the communication patterns of children with language impairments. Preschoolers with language impairments are less responsive to peer initiations, and are more ignored by peers (Hadley & Rice, 1990).
Washington (1993) found that children with language disorders had more difficulty than their normally developing peers in joining the play of others. This study provides evidence that children with a language impairment might be probably to have low status among their peers and to experience peer relations problems.
It’s important to emphasize that children with language disorders face problems because of their own skill deficit, the peer group dynamics and also of the limitations of the peer group. Normally developing preschoolers are more likely to initiate conversation with other normally developing peers than children with language and speech impairments, also may be unlikely to make the effort to be understood by children with language impairments or to attempt to interpret poorly articulated speech of children with language impairments.
As children grow older, other peer group dynamics become relevant, For example. as Gallagher (1993) notes, children of high school may be particularly sensitive to belonging to a peer group and to not standing out different. The need to stand apart from those who are "different" may contribute to the exclusion of children with language problems.
LONELINESS IN CHILDHOOD
The difficulties for kids with language disorders to have a peer relationship makes us worry that they may also suffer negative emotional consequences. Peer rejection has been related with emotional reactions( loneliness, low self-esteem, social anxiety, and depression).
Feelings of loneliness are normative and it shouldn’t. Loneliness is a consequence of forming connections and attachments to peoplef a child did not care about having relationships and having certain relationship needs met, the child would not be vulnerable to loneliness (Gallagher, 1993).
In other words, it is considered normal for children to occasionally experience loneliness when they occasionally lack a playmate or are separated from someone close to them. However, loneliness becomes a serious challenge to healthy social and emotional development for children who experience persistent loneliness over a long period of time.
Children's conceptions of loneliness
Children have a basic understanding of loneliness. For example, one of Cassidy and Asher's (1992) young interviewees described the loneliness experience this way: "'Like if you're a Man and, and you don't eh., eh, uh, and you only live on one planet and ...nobody's, um with ya, on that planet.". Children are also able to identify the things that make them feel lonely,
Formal assessments of loneliness
A very used measure in studies of children's peer relations is the Social Dissatisfaction Scale (Asher et al., 1984) and the variations on that measure that followed in later research. Many studies were made to assess the stability of loneliness over time. The measure was proved to obtain reliable information about how children are experiencing different contexts throughout the school day.
DIMENSIONS OF PEER ADJUSTMENT AND THE DETERMINANTS OF LONELINESS
Peer adjustment is a multifaceted concept, with various dimensions.
Peer acceptance
Being accepted rather than rejected by peers. This is a fundamental dimension. It is usually assessed using sociometric measures. One type of sociometric method involves giving every child a printed roster of all classmates and asking children to rate how much they like to play with each of the other members of the class. Another one involves asking children to nominate the three classmates who they like most and to indicate the names of the three children they like least. With the results, we can classify children as popular (receiving many positive nominations and few negative nominations), rejected (receiving few positive nominations and many negative nominations), neglected (receiving few positive nominations and few negative nominations), controversial (receiving many positive nominations and many negative nominations), or average (receiving an average number of positive and negative nominations). Research indicates an association between peer rejection and loneliness regardless of which type of sociometric measure is used, that’s to say: Children who get the rejected classification report more loneliness than children who are described as popular, which proofs their consciousness on what loneliness and popularity are.
Participation in friendship
Some children can be poorly accepted by peers yet have friends, and some children are well accepted by peers but don’t have friends. The research shows that friendship makes a contribution to feelings of well-being that is independent of the contribution of peer acceptance. In other words, having a friend has an effect on a child's level of loneliness that is above and beyond the effect of a child's level of acceptance. Also, it does not seem to make much difference how many friends a child has as long as the child has at least one. It also appears to be important that the friendships do last, that they are not short.
Friendship quality
The third dimension of peer adjustment concerns not just whether a child has friends, but what those friendships are like. Some friendships provide children with considerable emotional support, whereas others can actually be a source of conflict and stress. Several different measures have been developed to assess the quality of children's best friendships. The Parker and Asher (1993b) Friendship Quality Questioner has been used to examine the linkages between friendship quality and children's loneliness at school.
Victimization by peers
A fourth dimension of peer adjustment involves receiving or not harsh treatment from their peers. Peer victimization may range from verbal teasing to physical aggression. It can be done by only one other kid or by a group. Being accepted by peers and having friends are both protective factors in terms of being victimized by peers. The child who is both poorly accepted by others and who lacks friends will be particularly vulnerable.
IMPLICATIONS FOR ASSESSMENT AND INTERVENTION
Children's feelings of loneliness are influenced these four dimensions of peer adjustment: acceptance by peers, participation in friendship, the quality of children's friendships, and whether children are overtly victimized by their peers. It should be possible to reduce loneliness by improving children's functioning with respect to each dimension. Adults can help with peer relationship difficulties, they have the opportunity to make a significant difference in these aspects. Adults can have influence by teaching children critical social interaction skills and by designing the social environment in ways that promote acceptance and friendship and decrease the likelihood of victimization. Of the four dimensions of peer adjustment, improving children's acceptance by peers has been the most frequent focus of intervention efforts. It’s been researched and investigated how games are a great excuse and context to help children avoid or overcome chronic loneliness developing a wide range of competences.
In research on the peer interactions of children with language disorders, attention has been given to two types of social tasks, entry into ongoing interaction and the maintenance of contingent communication, but there is still research to be made, like for example study the peer relations of children with language disorders at different age levels, since the types of tasks that children confront and the types of skills that are needed can vary.
To summarize, this article digs in the socialization of children and their feelings of loneliness, how to assess those and what can we do to make an intervention.
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Reference: Asher, S. R., & Gazelle, H. (1999). Loneliness, peer relations, and language disorder in childhood. Topics in Language Disorders, 19, 16-33.
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