Socially isolated 8 year old boy

Our 8 year old son seems to be disconnected from other children his age.  He doesn't say hi unless prompted and appears to have a hard time participating in ritual social interactions. He is involved in many activities and clubs and is surrounded by children his age.  We would like to see him enjoy other people and the satisfaction of developing relationships.  We are looking for suggestions on how to guide him towards a more people centric personality.  We would like too help him understand that developing and maintaining personal relationships is a valuable and umportant activity and we are looking for suggestions for what we can do to help.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You are doing what you can by 'keeping him in the mix'. It would be wise to arrange an evaluation with a pediatric mental health clinician to be sure that anxiety or some other aspect of emotional functioning is not getting in the way.