My obsession with social thinking began a few years ago when I first started to read the works by Michelle Garcia Winner. Winner has written multiple books regarding how to assist children with social difficulties by teaching children how to utilize "social thinking". The first book I read by Winner was exciting since it was a literature review regarding what works and what doesn't when teaching social skills to children and presented her ideas for how to use the best of evidence-based practices while also stretching further to incorporate the teaching of social thinking to increase the likelihood of children truly becoming social thinkers and generalizing the actual social skills being taught [1].
It is difficult to build social skills and have these skills generalize due to the complexities inherent in our social world.
"Social thinking and appropriate social actions help us navigate a world shared by other people-people with differing thoughts, motives, beliefs, desires, and perceptions...Seemingly simple social skills are, in reality, quite complex networks of interdependent thoughts and actions, supported by an equally complex organizational structure. Once again, this structure develops without effort or concrete teaching in the neurotypical child; it's a normal part of the child's social development. Not so for the child with social challenges, and without a structure that helps the child organize and make sense of social learning, the child drifts even further without this innate compass to guide his thoughts and actions...It is not enough for an individual to have social knowledge. The student or adult must be able to systematically coordinate prior social knowledge within the context of the current situation, reading both verbal and nonverbal cues from the environment and people within it-whether or not verbal conversation is taking place." [2]
Winner states that sometimes these skills won't generalize to other environments if a larger social knowledge is not present. Social skills need to be taught in context with support often given to assist with emotion regulation. In addition, children with social, emotional, and behavioral difficulties do not learn the same way as other children. Due to this difficulty they often need direct feedback related to the "hidden rules" of social interactions that they often miss that other children know without having to think about. Children with these types of social struggles often need repeated exposures and practice, often with engaging forms of teaching that are multi-sensory in nature. These lessons often have to be direct in nature and assist children to become social thinkers since they do not naturally process facial expressions, body language, and social cues.
Major components of social thinking include:
1) Teaching about what behaviors are "expected" versus "unexpected" and how engaging in these two different types of behaviors illicit different emotional reactions from others.
2) Teaching children not just to have "eye contact," but what types of information they should actually be seeking out with their eyes (AKA--the art of being a social detective).
3) Teaching "hidden rules" of social interactions
4) Teaching the steps of perspective taking
5) Teaching the steps of communication
I am excited as this next camp season draws near since we plan to dedicate time each day specifically for social thinking instruction. I am listing out some of my favorite books in the area of social thinking below for those interested in learning more.
**Michelle Garcia Winner has multiple books available at her website, www.socialthinking.com that offer wonderful resources regarding social thinking. She has books, curricula, and games designed for professionals, parents, and for children.
Winner, M. G. (2010) Sticker Strategies: Practical strategies to encourage social thinking and organization
--This book has many of the hidden rules and great lessons. It will be a cornerstone of our camp program this summer.
Winner, M. G. (2007) Thinking about you, Thinking about me.
--Great for practitioners
Crooke, P. & Winner, M. G. (2011) Social Fortune or Social Fate
--A graphic novel for teens
Winner, M. G. & Crooke, P (2009) Socially curious and curiously social: a social thinking guidebook for bright teens and young adults
--Book for teens and young adults with a lot of information
Jessum, J. (2011). Diary of a social detective
--Book for children to understand social cues
Cannon L., Kenworthy, L., Alexander, K & Werner M. (2011) Unstuck and On Target
--A great book with many cognitive flexibility activities
[1] Winner, M. G., 2008. A politically incorrect look at evidence-based practices and teaching social skills: a literature review and discussion. Social Thinking Publishing, Inc. San Jose, CA.
[2] Winner, M. G., 2008. A politically incorrect look at evidence-based practices and teaching social skills: a literature review and discussion. Social Thinking Publishing, Inc. San Jose, CA. pp. 3-5
|
