Social interaction skills

Key information this page includes:

Social skills

You will have spent your childhood learning how to engage with other people and your social skills will have developed to a high level and you will be able to go out into the world knowing how to talk to and work with other people.

There are many social skills that you will have learned to use, for example:

  • Active listening – this is when you are preparing to listen to other people and be able to understand both verbal and non-verbal messages that are being given and being able to give appropriate responses
  • Empathy – this is being able to understand and share other people’s feelings and experiences
  • Assertiveness – this is where you are able to express your thoughts and feelings confidently
  • Making friends – being able to cooperate and bond with other people and create relationships
  • Conflict resolution – this is being able to stay calm in difficult situations and being able to make compromises and find peaceful endings to conflict between other people and yourself
  • Self-awareness – this is being able to understand what you want and what you are doing and understanding consequences of your actions
  • Communication – this is being able to give and share information, thoughts and feelings with other people

If you want to continue working on your social skills as an adult, there are lots of good resources available online, for example at Social Skills Training for Adults: 10 Best Activities + PDF (positivepsychology.com) or Social Skills Equipment | Life Skills | Sensory Direct.

Social disorders

There are a number of disorders that can affect your ability to develop social skills, for example autism. An adult will show different signs of disorders than children do. Common signs of autism in adults include:

  • Not understanding what other people are thinking or feeling
  • Feeling very anxious about being in social situations
  • Finding it difficult to make friends or wanting to be on your own more
  • Coming across as blunt, rude or disinterested toward other people without meaning to
  • Finding it difficult to talk about how you feel
  • Taking things too literally
  • Having the same daily routine and getting upset and anxious when these routines are changed
  • Not understanding social “rules” like not talking over people
  • Avoiding eye contact
  • Getting too close to other people or getting upset when other people get too close or touches you
  • Being very perceptive of very small details or patterns
  • Being very interested in specific activities or topics
  • Liking to plan things to extreme details before doing them

The signs of autism are different between men and women. Autistic women may:

  • Have learned to hide signs of autism by “fitting in” by copying or mimicking people who do not have autism
  • Be quitter and hide their feelings more
  • Appear to handle themselves in social situations better
  • Show fewer signs of repetitive or obsessive behaviour

If you think that your child might be autistic or have any other social or learning disorders you can speak to:

  • Your GP
  • If you already see a health professional, such as another doctor or therapist, you could speak to them instead

You can find out how to get diagnosed here: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/autism/getting-diagnosed/how-to-get-diagnosed/

Staying safe online

Staying safe online is really important for your personal security. The digital world is massive and it is guaranteed that you will spend a lot of time on the internet. The National Cyber Security Centre gives the following advice for staying secure online:

  • Protect your email by using a strong and separate password:  cyber criminals can use your email to access many of your personal accounts, leaving you vulnerable to identity theft.
  • Install the latest software and app updates: software and app updates contain vital security updates to help protect your devices from cyber criminals.
  • Turn on 2-step verification (2SV)
  • Backing up your data: safeguard your most important data, such as your photos and key documents, by backing them up to an external hard drive or a cloud-based storage system.
  • Three random words: use three random words to create a password that's difficult to crack. 

Understanding how to stay safe online is important. You may find emails or messages from people that you do not know. If you think a message or email looks suspicious, for example it is promising you something you haven’t asked for, or the email address is unfamiliar, you could be being attacked for your personal information. You should ignore and delete these messages and report the account that got in touch with you. You can find more information about digital attacks here: How to Spot Email Phishing with these 7 Tips (cofense.com).

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Social interaction skills

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