Teachers’ evaluation of the social skills and recreation activities of 10- to 12-year-old children with Down Syndrome

Abstract

Children with Down Syndrome (DS) are perceived to be sociable and to enjoysocial interaction, but they are often also found to lag in developmental milestones relating to communication and social skills. Apart from school contributing to the development of social skills, leisure and recreation participation can also contribute to the social skills development of children. The study aimed to determine the social skills and the recreation activities of 29, 10- to 12-year-old children with DS by means of a quantitative observational study design. Teachers applied the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY) as an observational rating scale over five consecutive school days, whereafter the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) IBM software, Version 25 was used to determine the group’s social skills. The teacher also completed a supplementary questionnaire on the children’s recreational activities. This data were analysed in Excel. Results indicated that the children with DS show slightly more Appropriate than Inappropriate Social Skills and that they are most likely to participate in fine arts.