When I wrote about Social Thinking and how well it has worked for our Brooke, many of you asked questions about the program that I felt woefully unqualified to answer. (Yes, that happens a lot.)
I went straight to the source and got a wealth of information from Heidi Winner. Heidi is Michelle Garcia Winner’s daughter and works as her mother’s resource expert. (I know, how cool is that, right?)
I hope to create links to the products below, but for now, I am THRILLED that Heidi has put this together for us.
Scroll through the categories below to find the resources that will work for you. All of the items can be ordered from www.socialthinking.com.
And if you have any questions, well, um .. hmmm .. Heidi?
www.socialthinking.com
It ~ SOCIAL THINKING ~
Where to begin when considering which books to purchase
Books by Categories
i. Social Thinking – Where to begin? The 1st Lessons:
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
2. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
3. Inside Out: What Makes a Person With Social Cognitive Deficits Tick?
4. A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices and Teaching Social Skills
1. Parent, Professional, Anyone Interested in Social Thinking
Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) is the place to begin when getting started in Social Thinking. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition explains the basic treatment philosophy of Social Thinking and is dense with strategies for teaching better social understanding that our therapists and parents have found helpful for children and adults. For those with the 1st edition of this book (green cover), it is likely worth it to purchase the 2nd edition which contains extra chapters, more advanced and nuanced related lessons and a refined and expanded section on the Informal Dynamic Social Thinking Assessment, including a qualitative assessment protocol. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition is the core book for treatment that launches you into all other books related to treatment in Social Thinking.
Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2005) is the core Social Thinking curriculum book, a complement to Thinking About You Thinking About Me. The book provides methods for teaching Social Thinking to students who have high-functioning autism, Asperger’s Syndrome and ADHD, and others, diagnosed and undiagnosed, with social-thinking challenges. Building upon the lessons of Thinking About You Thinking About Me, the book sequences through eight chapters and just under 70 lessons that help students explore the basics of working and thinking in a group. Each chapter addresses how to use and interpret language (verbal and nonverbal) to further understand the context of communication. The lessons have helped those in kindergarten through adulthood. Users are encouraged to modify some activities to better fit the age of students, but the most basic activities are often necessary for our brightest and oldest students.
When working as a teacher, principal, administrator, parent… anyone involved in the school day, it is critical to understand the social – academic connection. Social Thinking teaches that there is a connection between the development of the social mind and the ability to predict, infer, and conceptualize socially related information that is required for reading comprehension and for creating coherent written expression, etc. Inside Out: What Makes a Person With Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2000) explains the social – academic link through the description of the ILAUGH Model of social cognition. The ILAUGH is an acronym that outlines the key elements to effective communication and personal problem-solving and offers strategies and worksheets to teach the concepts. The ILAUGH model connects to the teaching concepts in Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition as it speaks to the need to teach our students to respect the many and varied ways in which we think socially to be successful in the classroom and on the playground!
To understand why teaching “social skills” is just not adequate for our students with reasonable language and cognitive skills, the book A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices and Teaching Social Skills (Winner, 2008) explains the need to evolve our teaching practices. This is the best book for understanding the key issues as to why we need to take time at an IEP meeting or elsewhere to discuss treatment philosophy and adjust teachings based on the different types of students we are working with. This is a powerhouse of a book using an academic approach to show the benefit of using Social Thinking beyond a more basic ABA driven social skills approach.
2. Social Thinking: List of Books on Philosophy & Books for Treatment
Understanding Core Ideas Related to Social Thinking
1. Thinking About You Thinking About Me : to learn about treatment
2. Politically Incorrect: to learn about how to discuss social learning in IEP’s
3. Inside Out: to learn the social academic connection
4. Social Thinking Across the Home and School Day DVD
5. Growing Up Social DVD
6. Strategies for Organization DVD
7. The Hidden Curriculum
Treatment: How to start to put the core ideas to work
8. Thinking About You Thinking About Me
9. Think Social! Curriculum
10. You Are a Social detective
11. Worksheets
12. Sticker Strategies
13. We Can Make it Better! Stories
14. Social Thinking Posters
15. Talkability
16. Story Grammar Marker by MindWing Concepts, Inc. www.mindwingconcepts.com
17. Meet Thotso, Your Thought Maker
ii. Videos: Can’t Attend a Workshop or Want to Spend More Time Listening to It?
Learn Better by Watching Rather than Reading?
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Social Thinking Across the Home & School Day
2. DVD: Growing Up Social
3. DVD: Strategies for Organization: Preparing for Homework and the Real World
4. DVD: Social Behavior Mapping
5. Subscription videos available for online viewing
If you are unable to attend a workshop and/ or are a visual learner, we recommend browsing our DVD selection. Our most popular DVD is Social Thinking Across the Home & School Day (Winner, 2003) which features 2 hours of Michelle speaking about Social Thinking and the ILAUGH Model, an acronym that outlines the key elements to effective communication and personal problem-solving. It also includes 2 hours of Michelle in working with clients (young and older children) in Social Thinking sessions to improve their social skills.
Growing Up Social (Winner, 2007) is a 2 hour DVD to explore the complex process of intuitive social learning expected in early childhood (birth through 4 years old) to prepare children to sit and learn in the classroom. Social Thinking treatment paradigms such as the 4 Steps of Communication and the 4 Steps of Perspective taking are introduced to help adults explore how to scaffold and systematize their social teachings.
Strategies for Organization: Preparing for Homework and the Real World (Winner, 2005) is a DVD and workbook combination that focuses on strategies for organizing a student’s work, schedule and brain, as well as enhancing time-management.
Social Behavior Mapping (Winner, 2007) introduces strategies to use with students to reduce behavioral breakdowns and classroom distractions. It explains how to use the social behavior map, a powerful tool created by Michelle to teach deeper perspective taking and behavior regulation.
Video Streaming Available for purchase for period of time at www.socialthinking.com under Books & Products
Video 1: Social Thinking in the Classroom and Across the Day: ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking (2 hrs) summarizes the social academic connection by discussing the ILAUGH Model of Social Thinking and related strategies.
Video 2: Introducing a Social Thinking Vocabulary In Schools and Homes
(2 hrs) – explains the Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts which are at the foundation of our treatment strategies and expanded upon in the book Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
(Winner, 2005)
Video 3: Executive Functioning and Organizing for Homework: Strategies to Facilitate Learning (2 hrs) Michelle has not had time to write this book, so she describes critical steps and related strategies that are integral to working through homework assignments. These steps do not just relate to homework but have to do with how we organize our self for managing our lives! This is a shorter version of the DVD and workbook Strategies for Organization: Preparing for Homework and the Real World (Winner, 2005) that provides information on all 10 steps of this process. (see information about this above)
Video 4: Talking with Students and Parents about Social Thinking
(3.5 hrs) – Michelle interviews clients and parents to better understand students’ different social functioning levels and specific needs.
Next steps to take in your learning:
All other books relate back to the core set of books listed here. See descriptions under the section “Social Thinking ~ Where to Begin? The 1st Lessons”. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007), Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2005) , Inside Out: What Makes a Person With Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2000), A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices and Teaching Social Skills (Winner, 2008).
iii. Books By Age – Teaching and Parenting with Social Thinking
1. Preschool:
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Talkability
2. Meet Thotso
3. Playtime with Zeebu DVD
4. Zeebu Coloring Books: Eye Power #1, Eye Power #2, Keeping Calm
3. Growing Up Social DVD
Think Social Publishing hasn’t yet published a book for preschoolers (3-4 years old who are verbal and have reasonable cognitive abilities), however we highly recommend two books:
1. Talkability (Sussman, 2006) and other products by Hanen. In this book Sussman guides parents and professionals through lessons to help students learn to think about others in play and discussions. For use with children ages 3-7 years old.
2. Meet Thotso, Your Thought Maker (Avery, 2008) this book is written for children to read with adults to learn about how thoughts relate to basic emotions and to understand how we go through “sunshine” thoughts and “boo-boo” thoughts, etc. This is a charming book that helps to frame emotions in a context little children can learn from and talk about!
Playtime with Zeebu (Thought Bubble Productions, 2008) is a kids movie featuring a blue monkey Zeebu and his likeable friends. The movie integrates many social thinking concepts into the story as it teaches children about sharing, “thinking with your eyes”, reading other peoples’ facial expressions, body language, playing with others, and calming one’s body down. The DVD comes with a Zeebu puppet. Sold separately are Zeebu coloring workbooks Eye Power #1 (Thought Bubble Productions, 2009), Eye Power #2 (Thought Bubble Productions, 2009) and Keeping Calm (Thought Bubble Productions, 2009) that teach social concepts through pictures and activities.
Growing Up Social (Winner, 2007) is a 2 hour DVD to explore the complex process of intuitive social learning expected in early childhood (birth through 4 years old) to prepare children to sit and learn in the classroom. Social Thinking treatment paradigms such as the 4 Steps of Communication and the 4 Steps of Perspective taking are introduced to help adults explore how to scaffold and systematize their social teachings.
Next steps:
You Are a Social Detective (Crooke & Winner, 2008) can be used as young as 4 years old for those with advanced language and thinking skills.
3. Children K-5th Grade
Products Featured in this Category:
1. You Are a Social Detective
2. We Can Make It Better! A Strategy to Motivate and Engage Young Learners in Social Problem Solving Through Flexible Stories
If you are looking for a book to help teach Social Thinking concepts to your young child/student, look no further. You Are a Social Detective (Crooke & Winner, 2008) was written to be a starting point for adults and children to learn the basic Social Thinking concepts together. You Are a Social Detective is a children’s book that teaches the fundamental basics of social interaction by introducing many Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts. By teaching explicit language to help students observe others’ as well as their own behavior, students develop deeper insight into the expectations of the social world. Research published on the teachings of these concepts is described in the article “Brief Report: Measuring the Effectiveness of Teaching Social Thinking to Children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA)” (Crooke, Hendrix, Rachman, 2008) found at http://www.socialthinking.com/what-is-social-thinking/social-thinking-research/104-research-on-social-thinking that validate the effectiveness of these teachings. The final pages of the book feature select games and strategies as well as the list of basic Social Thinking Vocabulary for parents and teachers to use in their classrooms, on the playground, at home and in the community. This book was designed to be read by adults with children. Many mainstream classrooms have adopted it for use with all kids. You Are a Social Detective is recommended for elementary school-age children but has been effective with older children who may be less mature and still enjoy children’s books.
We Can Make It Better! A Strategy to Motivate and Engage Young Learners in Social Problem Solving Through Flexible Stories (Delsandro, 2010) is a good tool for teaching younger elementary school students (K-3rd grade) problem solving strategies by helping them to problem solve the dilemmas of the two main characters, Maria and Bob. By teaching children how to use a system to analyze social situations, create a system for making better choices, and role play those choices to understand the power of flexible thinking, we help them learn to be better personal problem solvers. Problem Solving is at the heart of social relationships!
Next steps:
Superflex (Madrigal, 2008) and related products is a powerful teaching tool for helping students learn how to regulate their behavior using this same Social Thinking Vocabulary. However, we do not recommend you begin your teachings with this curriculum. This is only to be used once your students have read You Are a Social Detective (Crooke & Winner, 2008) and have become detectives and problem solvers!
4. Middle School (10-14 years old)
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Social Fortune or Social Fate
2. Social Behavior Mapping
3. Worksheets! for Teaching Social Thinking and Related Skills
4. Worksheets for Middle- Schoolers/Adolescents
Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd edition (Winner, 2007), Inside out: What Makes a Person With Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2000) and Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2005) are solid, core books for use with this age group as they are for any school age group.
We are about to release a graphic novel designed to peek the interest of the pre-adolescent and adolescent which will be called Social Fortune or Social Fate (Crooke & Winner, to be released fall of 2010) based on the concepts of the strategy and book Social Behavior Mapping (Winner, 2007). The novel is composed of a series of comics in which each story allows the students to decide how the story will continue. Chose wisely and the story unfolds with favorable social “fortune”, however – act without thinking of others’ perspectives and the reader may find him/herself down the path of undesirable social “fate”. Students are encouraged to discuss and discover how subtle shifts in how they respond can lead to positive or negative outcomes. Illustrated with anime illustrations, Crooke and Winner use their vast knowledge of working with this age group to create a tool students can learn from and enjoy.
Given the great appeal of the book Worksheets! for Teaching Social Thinking and Related Skills (Winner, 2005), Winner decided to publish a new book of worksheets directed for young adolescents - or those who still act very young! Worksheets for Middle- Schoolers/Adolescents (edited by Winner, to be released by Dec. 2010) teaches Social Thinking concepts and related social skill lessons to encourage the exploration of one’s self-awareness by studying themselves and the world around them. Lessons related to perspective taking, communication, emotional regulation, and problem solving break down the complexity of social awareness and define it in a manner that makes it more readily available to this age group. By presenting lessons in the form of worksheets, the educator, counselor or parent can easily photocopy these concepts to share and discuss with students. The design of the worksheets helps adults to navigate through the exploration of these concepts by putting words to what we often do intuitively.
4. High School Students – Adulthood
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Socially Curious and Curiously Social
2. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
3. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
Socially Curious and Curiously Social (Crooke & Winner, 2009) is unique in that it was written specifically for very high functioning adolescents and young adults to read themselves to learn about the nuance of social behavior. In this book Winner and Crooke do their best to describe the complex connection between thoughts and feelings that we and others experience in the process of communicating. The book is in essence a “manual” on how to understand interactions and how to explore the “hidden rules” that vary from situation to situation. By teaching our older students and adults the core Social Thinking concepts in a method that’s appropriate for them, we help individuals to learn how to “get your body in the group”, why it’s important to think about others’ emotions and perspectives, tips on how to attract closer friends, and more.
The images and situations in the book reflect those of young adults (high school and young adults including college students) but the information is applicable to all adults. Many mature adults with social learning challenges have given positive reviews to this book for its explicit descriptions. We also encourage parents and professionals to read Socially Curious and Curiously Social as it is provides the best description to date of the complex social tangle all of us engage in as we transition into and live as adults.
Transition to Adulthood
Thinking About You Thinking About Me (Winner, 2007) addresses the core issues of building social relationships that individuals will need as they enter the more complex social world of adulthood. The lesson plans in Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2005) can also be modified for the adolescent to adult age groups.
Next steps:
Sticker Strategies
Social Behavior Mapping
Worksheets!
Worksheets for Adolescents
5. Adults and Social Thinking
Product Featured in this Category:
1. The Adult Book (currently untitled) Due to be published in 2011
We are hoping that in 2011 we will finally publish the book Winner and Crooke have been working on for years about Social Thinking in the Workplace; which is currently in the editing process. This book will explore how basic Social Thinking concepts are expected and deeply entwined in all aspects of the work environment. Treatment ideas will be explored in detail demonstrating how teaching Social Thinking and related social skills is refined with this age group. Stay tuned for the announcement about this book; if you have signed up to be on our email newsletter http://www.socialthinking.com/newsletter-sign-up you will receive notice when this is published.
Books currently published which help to provide direction of treatment ideas are limited but include:
Brilliant Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Briers, 2009)
Valerie L. Gaus’s (2007) Cognitive Behavior Therapy with Adult Asperger Syndrome
(need to make sure we are carrying this as well on the website…)
iv. The Superflex Curriculum and Related Books on Social Emotional Regulation
Products Featured in this Category:
1. You Are a Social Detective
2. Superflex A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum Package
3. Superflex Takes on Glassman and the Team of Unthinkables
4. Superflex Takes on Brain Eater – Due to be published in late 2010 or early 2011
5. Superflex Poster
6. Superflex T-Shirt
1. Before Starting Superflex
Before children are introduced to the Superflex series (Madrigal & Winner, 2008), it is important that they learn the basic fundamentals of social behavior, as well as become familiarized with popular Social Thinking Vocabulary. It is strongly recommended that children go through the book You Are a Social Detective (Crooke & Winner, 2008) before being introduced to Superflex to initiate discussion about fundamental social behavior such as what it means to “have your body in the group,” to “think with your eyes” and to do “expected” verses “unexpected” behavior to name a few. The Superflex Curriculum builds on these basic concepts and delves into deeper discussion of social behavior.
2. What is “Superflex”?
The Superflex curriculum is a specific tool to teach kids to recognize and manage their disruptive behaviors in a fun and engaging way. “Superflex” is a Social Thinking superhero who must prevent the 12 “Unthinkables” from successfully invading all of our brains. Unthinkables are cute cartoons representing unfavorable social behaviors. Children understand that they can be like Superflex as they learn strategies to minimize such intrusive behaviors as “One-Sided Sid” the Unthinkable who convinces kids to think only about themselves, “Glassman” the Unthinkable who causes big reactions to small problems, and “Rockbrain” the Unthinkable who makes a child’s brain rigid and easily stuck on one topic. Superflex is recommended for grades 3-5, though it has been successful with younger and older children depending on their maturity and openness to cartoons.
3. The Superflex Materials
Superflex A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum Package (Madrigal & Winner, 2008): includes Superflex… A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum, the curriculum with worksheets and strategies to teach Superflex in an academic setting, as well as Superflex Takes on Rock Brain and the Team of Unthinkables the comic book story introducing Superflex as he has to cope with the power of Rockbrain (the unthinkable of rigid thinking).
4. Next Books in the Series
The plan is to eventually create one “teaching comic book” for each of the 12 Unthinkables. Each comic book does or will highlight one of the Unthinkables and the adventure of Superflex as he teaches students how to prevent their Unthinkables from taking over their thoughts and actions. The first of these books, Superflex Takes on Glassman and the Team of Unthinkables (Madrigal & Winner, 2009) is available now.
Due to be published in late 2010 or early 2011 is Superflex Takes on Brain Eater (Madigal & Winner).
The Superflex Poster! (Madrigal & Winner, 2010) is available featuring Superflex and each one of his Unthinkable adversaries.
Superflex T-Shirts are also available! The front has a small image of Superflex’s face on the chest and the back has a larger image of Superflex and reads “STOP! Are you using your Superflexible Powers right now?” Available in Child and Adult sizes Small – X-Large
v. The Social Behavior Map and 5 Point Scale for Behavior Regulation
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
2. Social Behavior Mapping
3. The Hidden Curriculum
4. The Incredible 5 Point Scale
5. A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control
6. A 5 is Against the Law
Social Behavior Mapping
The social behavior map is a template for decoding how an individual’s social behavior ultimately affects how he or she feels about himself. It reveals the cycle that an individual’s behavior affects the thoughts of others, which changes how others treat the individual, and in the end affects the individual’s mood and confidence. This cycle of events can lead to positive or negative outcomes, depending on whether the initial behavior is classified as “expected” or “unexpected” in the particular context at hand. By breaking down social interaction into a series of actions and reactions, individuals with social weaknesses begin to understand more deeply that their actions affect the thoughts and feelings of others, and the significance is often the difference between social inclusion and exclusion. The social behavior map deconstructs and rebuilds interaction while strengthening social understanding and ultimately improving one’s ability to consider the perspective of others.
Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) dedicates a chapter to describing the strategy and method of the social behavior map. It is a great introduction to the tool and teaches everything you need to know to begin implementing social behavior mapping at home and in the classroom.
Due to requests from the public, we published a book by the same name, Social Behavior Mapping (Edited by Winner, 2007) which features the social behavior map filled out in its entirety for 52 different social scenarios that students typically encounter. The book provides ideas of how this strategy can be used to discuss behavior in an array of contexts such as riding in the car with the family, initiating play with others, working in a small group at school, and getting ready for bed. Many enjoy this book to review with students to understand how the subtle hidden rules take on new meanings in various situations. Social Behavior Mapping has affectionately been dubbed a “cheater’s manual” because it supplies the answers for the parent or professional’s convenient reference. There are “Introduction” and “Instruction” sections in the beginning of the book to explain the purpose behind the social behavior map and instructions on how to use it most effectively.
Social Behavior Mapping can be used in connection with the book The Hidden Curriculum (Myles, Schelvan & Trautman, 2004) a book that discusses the hidden social rules, also available on our website.
The 5 Point Scale Series for Behavior Regulation
Another effective method for behavior regulation is the 5 Point Scale. The book, The Incredible 5 Point Scale (Buron & Curtis, 2003) describes the idea that both problems and reactions can be rated on a scale from 1 to 5. Students much work to rate the size of their problem appropriately then to match the size of their reaction to the size of the problem. Comparing the sizes of situations and emotions is a great way to stimulate a discussion with a child to challenge them to rethink their behavior in a constructive way.
The 5 Point Scale series also includes A 5 Could Make Me Lose Control (Buron, 2007), a game in which children rate cards with different problems from 1-5. And A 5 is Against the Law (Buron, 2007), a workbook for teens that teaches that as we grow older, level 5 problems become more serious and large reactions can get one in trouble with the law if he/she is perceived as dangerous or potentially threatening to others.
vi. The Difference Between the Thinking About You Thinking About Me, Think Social and Superflex Curriculums
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
2. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
3. Superflex… A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum
Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) introduces the philosophy of Social Thinking and explains why many of the social learning concepts and strategies are important and effective; whereas Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students focuses on how to teach the strategies step by step in an academic setting.
Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2005) and Superflex… A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum (Madrigal & Winner, 2008) are two very different books. The Think Social! Curriculum is a general Social Thinking curriculum containing approximately 70 lesson plans to improve social awareness and understanding. It introduces and explains Social Thinking vocabulary and related concepts in a sequenced manner to be used in the therapy room, classroom and home. This book is meant for grades K-12.
The Superflex Curriculum is a specific tool that uses a superhero and his goofy, socially inappropriate counterparts to teach kids to recognize and manage their disruptive behaviors by developing self-awareness and strategies for self-control in a fun and engaging way. Superflex is designed for use with 3rd -5th graders.
vii. Assessing Individuals
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
2. Inside Out: What Makes a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick?
3. Emotion and Expression Cards
4. Sequences: 6-8 Step for Children
5. Sequences: 6-8 Step for Adults
Thinking About You Thinking About Me, 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) discusses the challenges of trying to use standardized tests to quantify an abstract, complex, synergistic process and presents the Informal Social Thinking Dynamic Assessment Protocol®. As Michelle writes on pg. 211,
“The Social Thinking Dynamic Assessment Protocol® is a means of identifying and quantifying, in real-life terms, a student’s social cognitive/social language skills. A well-done assessment can… give teachers and educational staff a more thorough understanding of the ‘unseen’ challenges the student grapples with on a daily basis that affect learning and his ability to confer benefit from the rest of his educational program.”
Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition, features three chapters on assessments: the first describes the Informal Social Thinking Assessment Protocol®, the second gives comments and critiques on other assessment techniques, and the third provides the 29 pages of the Informal Social Thinking Assessment Protocol® and checklist to encourage others to use these informal assessment tools. Research done on the effectiveness of one of the informal subtests included in the protocol is posted on our website; “The Double Interview Task: Assessing the Social Communication of Children with Asperger Syndrome” (Miller, 2004) http://www.socialthinking.com/what-is-social-thinking/social-thinking-research/96-the-double-interview-task-assessing-the-social-communication-of-children-with-asperger-syndrome.
Many doing assessments also use Michelle Garcia Winner’s ILAUGH model of Social Cognition to help analyze and describe their informal assessment results and related observations. The book, Inside Out: What Makes a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2006) defines and describes how the social mind impacts tasks across the home and school day.
Next Steps:
The Emotion and Expression Cards (Drolet & Klein, 1985) as well as Speechmark’s 6-8 picture sequence cards Sequences: 6-8 Step for Children (Harrison, 2010) and Sequences: 6-8 Step for Adults (Harrison, 1996) are also available on our website. The use of these picture sets is described in the assessment chapters within the book Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition.
We recommend the Adult set for use with anyone over the age of 10 as they show teens in most of the pictured sequences. Pre-adolescents and adolescents prefer to see pictures of teens rather than young elementary school students when using tools to assess their knowledge and provide related treatments.
viii. IEP (Individualized Education Plans) Goals and Meetings
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Inside Out, What Makes a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick?
2. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
3. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
4. A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices and Teaching Social Skills
Realistic IEPs can lead to real growth in students, with the understanding that the learning process is slow. IEP goal writing also involves understanding how social skills improve and progress in individuals of a certain age. Being able to accurately describe the desired social progress is the first step to changing an individual’s behavior. Increasingly educators and parents are recognizing the importance of the “social” component in developing IEPs. There is a lot to learn about understanding how people learn social information before we can determine how to provide treatment by writing reasonable IEP goals.
In both Inside Out, What Makes a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2006) and Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) many chapters conclude with sample goals and benchmarks pertaining to the content in the chapter that could be used in IEPs. In addition, Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Ed introduces “the Me Binder” concept used to teach students about their IEP and what it means.
The book, Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2008), ends each chapter a list of IEP goal ideas and also a review of how the goals help to foster the development of academic standards. Due to public demand, a CD is now included with the book that summarizes all of the goal ideas discussed in the text to encourage parents and professionals to think about goal writing in a more fundamental manner. One chapter in this book lays out the connection between social academic demands set forth in the standards of education and how Social Thinking vocabulary and concepts help to foster the development of not only social behavior but classroom success.
A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices and Teaching Social Skills (Winner, 2008) provides a strong base from which professionals, parents, administrators can understand why the basic social skills training programs (usually described as ABA based) are often inadequate for our students with stronger language and learning skills. This evidence-based book addresses some of the false assumptions made by those who advocate that we can only teach social skills within the context of social skills training programs that have strong research support for the specific training methodology. Many programs, including Social Thinking, are developmentally based with strong research supporting the pillars upon which the programs were founded, even if there are not abundant research studies to support them as of now. In 1995 people had only just begun to explore specifically the needs of those with higher language and learning abilities and the related subtleties required of this group to appear more socially proficient! This book reminds us that teaching “social skills” is akin to shooting a bullet at a moving target. Social behaviors (social skills) evolve with every year of a child’s life; hence what was taught last year may not be relevant information for a student to excel this year to stay socially proficient.
ix. Targeting Academic Problems
Social cognitive challenges affect far more than social skills. Reading comprehension, written expression, problem solving and organization are a few of the academic challenges that our students must overcome.
- Problem Solving and More
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Inside Out: What Makes a Person With Social Cognitive Deficits Tick?
2. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
3. Sticker Strategies: Practical Strategies to Encourage Social Thinking and Organization
Inside Out: What Makes a Person With Social Cognitive Deficits Tick? (Winner, 2006) describes the relationship between social deficits and difficulties with academic tasks such as reading comprehension, and working as part of a group. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2008) features approximately 70 lessons that allow students to explore the basics of working, thinking, and monitoring one’s own behavior in a group. The lessons have helped those in kindergarten through adulthood. It also contains a chapter on how the standards of education intermingle with social learning. Sticker Strategies: Practical Strategies to Encourage Social Thinking and Organization (Winner, 2010) is a unique product in which strategies from the book can be printed and placed in flip notebooks for students to take to school as visual reminders of the strategies they have already learned. The categories of the strategies are asking for help, emotions and problem solving, organization, writing and homework, group work, Social Thinking, and family time.
- Organization
Products Featured in this Category:
-
- Strategies for Organization: Preparing for Homework and the Real World
- Sticker Strategies: Practical Strategies to Encourage Social Thinking and Organization
- Subscription Video- Executive Functioning and Organizing for Homework: Strategies to Facilitate Learning
Strategies for Organization: Preparing for Homework and the Real World (Winner, 2005) is a DVD and workbook combination that focuses on strategies for organizing a student’s work, schedule and brain, as well as enhancing time-management.
Sticker Strategies: Practical Strategies to Encourage Social Thinking and Organization (Winner, 2010) is a unique product in which strategies from the book can be printed and placed in flip notebooks for students to take to school as visual reminders of the strategies they have already learned. The categories of the strategies are asking for help, emotions and problem solving, organization, writing and homework, group work, Social Thinking, and family time.
The 2 hour video “Executive Functioning and Organizing for Homework: Strategies to Facilitate Learning” is available for viewing online with a subscription.
3. Reading and Writing
Products Featured in this Category:
1. I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers
2. Pathways for Learning: Visual Organizers to Heighten Academic Success I
3. Pathways for Learning: Visual Organizers to Heighten Academic Success II
I Read It, But I Don’t Get It: Comprehension Strategies for Adolescent Readers (Tovani, 2000) provides strategies for better understanding of reading material. It discusses ideas readers can use to connect the material to one’s own experiences and other tactics to enhance comprehension and enjoyment. Pathways for Learning: Visual Organizers to heighten Academic Success I (Gooden-Schroeder & Hansen, 1998) and Pathways for Learning: Visual Organizers to heighten Academic Success II (Gooden-Schroeder & Hansen, 2004) include worksheets and lesson ideas for teaching vocabulary and figurative language comprehension, literary analysis, writing, and understanding the different elements that make up a story.
- The Push for Teaching Social Understanding in Academics
Product Featured in this Category:
1. A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices
A Politically Incorrect Look at Evidence-Based Practices (Winner, 2008) argues that social skills are vital to success in the adult life and therefore should be a priority in education. With increased pressure to meet academic standards and policy focused on strengthening test scores, however, the importance of social skills are often overlooked in the classroom – though they hugely determine a child’s future success. This book informs educators on how to effectively teach students with social learning needs in the mainstream classroom.
x. Transition to Adulthood
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
2. Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students
3. Socially Curious, Curiously Social
Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) addresses the core issues of building social relationships that individuals will need as they enter the more complex social world of adulthood. The lesson plans in Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School-Age Students (Winner, 2005) can also be modified for the adolescent to adult age groups. Socially Curious, and Curiously Social (Crooke & Winner, 2009) was written for individuals (high school students through adults) with social learning problems to read themselves. The book is in essence a “manual” on how to interact appropriately in different social situations with peers and describes the “hidden rules” that lurk in each social context. The book illustrates the importance of how to “get your body in the group”, tips on how to attract closer friends, why it’s important to think about others’ emotions and perspectives, and more of the Social Thinking concepts that only intensify in adulthood.
xi. Social Anxiety and Depression
Products Featured in this Category:
1. Helping Your Anxious Child, 2nd Edition
2. Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition
3. Superflex, a Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum
4. The Incredible 5 Point Scale
5. A “5” Could Make Me Lose Control
6. Visual Thinking Strategies for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders
7. Beyond the Blues
Outbursts are not the only signs of anxiety – many individuals with high-functioning autism, Asperger’s syndrome and related disorders may seem complacent or disengaged, but this can in fact indicate a response to anxiety that can spiral. From separation anxiety to general anxiety, social anxiety, specific phobia and panic disorder, Helping Your Anxious Child, 2nd Edition (Rapee et al., 2008)describes the common types of childhood anxiety, how anxiety originates, and options for dealing with the problem – with or without a therapist’s help. Understanding where an individual lies on the Perspective Taking Spectrum is key to addressing anxiety, therefore Thinking About You Thinking About Me 2nd Edition (Winner, 2007) is a good book for pinpointing how to effectively address an individual’s response to stress. Superflex, a Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum (Madrigal & Winner, 2008) and children’s book series can also help manage behavior by providing a face to the anxiety, such as The Worry Wall Unthinkable– or one created by you or your student (Anxious Annie or Andy?). The student recognizes when the Unthinkable character is beginning to “invade his/her brain” and is taught Superflex strategies to help block the Unthinkable from taking over his/her thoughts. In addition, The Incredible 5 Point Scale (Buron & Curtis, 2003), A “5” Could Make Me Lose Control (Buron,2007) and Visual Thinking Strategies for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (Buron, 2009) aid by offering effective communication strategies that can help reduce the confusion and stress that often lead to anxiety and behavioral outbursts. For depression, the book Beyond the Blues (Schab, 2008) encourages students to reframe their recent negative experiences or memories in an honest and effective manner. It also prompts parents on how to engage in meaningful discussion with their child about depression, a topic that is so sensitive and pertinent.
xii. Books in Spanish and French
All of our products were originally written in English, though we are excited to offer a few that have been translated into different languages!
Spanish
You Are a Social Detective (Winner, 2008)
Social Behavior Mapping (Winner, 2007)
French
You Are a Social Detective (Winner, 2008)
Wow, thanks for this. So helpful. I am exploring doing this with my son myself. The Superhero concept is brillant.
Thanks for providing this resource.
Comment by Sandi — January 8, 2011 @ 12:24 pm |