If your child spends their day playing video games, chances are they're not learning social skills.

Greeting and talking to adults is a necessary social skill, but educators report a generation of kids who are growing up doing it poorly.

Some say it has to do with email replacing a phone conversation, or with family dinners becoming a thing of the past.

Pediatrician Dr. Mel Levine says, "And it's partly because they're growing up in a culture that's sort of language deprived, where all the excitement is computer games, which have no language in them; skateboards, no language in them; sports on TV, very non-verbal stuff."

Child experts say you can teach your child the speaking skills he or she needs when grownups are around.

They add to be specific.

One mom teaches her children how to address adults, shake hands, and make eye contact when speaking.

Mom Tina Falzetta says, "They need to be courteous and look people in the eye and be up front."

Additional advice: Let them practice.

Expect your child to sit with grownup guests for at least a few minutes.

Observe peer interactions And consider how she talks to her own friends, too.

Some kids may need extra coaching in all social interactions.

"I think in some cases, when a child doesn't relate to adults, he may also be having trouble relating really meaningfully to his peers", Levine adds.

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