How can I help DS improve his social skills?

[NoahAndTheWhale]

DS is 6.7 and generally quite nice.

He is not great at the small talk of life, or at least not when I am near. On the way to school other children will call out "Hello DS" and he just shuffles along without seeming to notice at all. Same thing with meeting people - he is very unlikely to speak to them.

I'm not sure whether me saying "Hello" helps or hinders but I don't want people to feel that they are being ignored. I am not the world's greatest small-talker but I do at least say hello.

I think he is better at school - I presume he must be as we moved here a month ago and already he has been to two children's houses. Also when I was picking him up yesterday, the mum of one of the children said how he had been talking about DD, so at least he does speak sometimes.

Anyone else experienced this? And how can I help? I end up feeling frustrated with DS and also feel that I perpetuate the problem somehow.

Role play is a good idea. He pretends to be one of your friends and you 'meet him' somewhere. Show him the difference between a good conversation and a bad conversation.
Social skills don't come easy to some people , some people pick them up easily, others need a bit more help. You wouldn't blame yourself if he needed help with maths would you?

Ask him what defines a bad conversation and discuss it with him (lack of eye contact, no facial expressions, monotone, not being interested, paying no attention etc)

Thank you .

Will try some of those - I suppose I "blame" myself as my social skills aren't the best (or at least they don't come easily to me) and so I feel he may have inherited it a bit.

Knowing that he does talk to others when I'm not there helps but I suppose I end up feeling a bit daft when other children talk to him and he seems oblivious. Maybe it is just me

My eldest ds went through a similar stage when he was about 8. Really anxious and shy. Wouldn't talk to anyone and it was a bit embarressing beacuse it did just look like he was being rude and ignoring them. For him it was just a general anxiety. He didn't know what to say and the less he spoke to people the more his confidence was dented and the more anxious he felt. He grew out of it and is now a confident and popular 10 yr old. We started off by encouraging him to just smile at people when they say hello to him. I explained to him if he smiled even when he felt anxious then other people's reaction to him would be more positive and that would help him to feel less anxious. Slowly over a few months he started to get his confidence back.