BY LAUREN AGORATUS, M.A.
This terminology was created by Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, a world-renowned expert in the treatment of individuals with social-cognitive deficits.
Many parents of children with special needs are familiar with social skills, which help their child better interact with others. Social Thinking goes beyond what is usually covered in schools, to more concrete and explicit ways of thinking. Social Thinking uses the thoughts behind the social skills. This terminology was created by Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, a world-renowned expert in the treatment of individuals with social-cognitive deficits. Here are examples of some of the concepts
used in Social Thinking groups at Princeton Speech-Language & Learning Center in Princeton, N.J., based on her work.
Thinking with Your Eyes
Imagine that a therapist is working with a child who has social communication and social skill issues. She wants the child to learn about “thinking with her eyes.” The conversation would go something like this:
Child: “See my Nintendo game is blue and black.”
Therapist: “I’m thinking with my eyes, I can see that it is blue and black.” Then they’ll do an activity where, without talking, the child looks at and “thinks with her eyes” at an object and the therapist guesses which one of four she was thinking about, then reverses it. So in the second round, the therapist would look at an object and have the child guess which one. In this way, the child would learn “thinking with her eyes” as well as learning about what someone is “thinking about.”
Group Plan
Another activity in Social Thinking is “the group plan.” If all the children are doing a Lego activity, such as making a building, and one child walks off and starts texting, he’s following his own plan, not the group plan.
Children may at first need individual practice, and later progress to group practice in Social Thinking. Children need to have average language skills to benefit from Social Thinking. It is also important for families to reinforce these skills at home. Social Thinking involves “emotional intelligence” such as “understanding that others have ‘thoughts’ separate from our own, to interpreting and responding to the nuances of verbal and non-verbal communication.”
Teaching methods include:
• Role Playing
• Visual Support
• Video monitoring
• Positive Reinforcement
Lessons involve:
• Non-verbal communication
• Group dynamics/How to “fit in”
• Initiating conversations/small talk
• Understanding abstract language
• Problem solving and negotiating
• Thinking flexibly
• How behavior impacts others
• Perspective-taking
• Emotional regulation/self-control
• Understanding hidden social rules
The lessons vary by age and ability, ranging from learning about thoughts and expected and unexpected behaviors, to “smart guesses”, to self-advocacy. Social Thinking goes beyond traditional Social Skills training. Social Thinking “addresses the thought processes behind social interactions,
which helps children carryover and apply social skills to new contexts and environments.” •
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Lauren Agoratus, M.A. is the parent of a child with multiple disabilities who serves as the Coordinator for Family Voices-NJ and as the central/southern coordinator in her state’s Family-to-Family Health Information Center, both housed at the Statewide Parent Advocacy Network (SPAN) at www.spanadvocacy.org
For more information on Social Thinking, see https://www.socialthinking.com/what-is-social-thinking Social Thinking Concepts http://www.queenanneelementary.com/uploads/4/0/4/0/4040
010/socialthinking_vocabulary.pdf Social Thinking at PSLLCNJ Social Thinking at PSLLCNJ
http://www.psllcnj.com/social-village/social-groups.asp
