SOCIAL SKILLS IN PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN: STATUS DETERMINATION

The purpose of this study is to investigate social skills of children who were attending semi-public early childhood education institution. Social skills of children were determined on the basis of teacher's perceptions. A Social Skills Scale for Early Childhood Children was developed by the researchers by utilizing several different social skills scales (Akkok, 1996, Cetin, Bilbay ve Kaymak, 2003; McGinnis, ve Goldstein, 2003; Mendez, Hidalgo ve Ingles, 2002). There were 16 participating early childhood teachers who completed the instrument for the children in their classrooms. The total number of children was 343. 196 of these children were female and 147 of them were male. The children age were changing between 4 and 6. According to the results of variance analysis, there was a difference between age groups in the sub groups of social skills, communication, and adjustment. It was found that adjustment scores of girls were lower than boys' scores. The results of this study were discussed in relation to the literature on children's social-emotional development.