| Introduction to Social Thinking |
New Book for Teens and Young Adults! Socially Curious and Curiously Social: A Social Thinking Guidebook for Teens & Young Adults with Asperger’s, ADHD, PDD-NOS, NVLD, or other Murky Undiagnosed Social Learning Issues
Workshops Hosted and Presented by Michelle Garcia Winner!
If you are teaching, treating or living with individuals who are experiencing social and communication challenges, including those experienced by students with Asperger's, high-functioning autism and ADHD, please take a look at Michelle Garcia Winner's Social Thinking workshops below. Michelle has authored 10 books on this topic and has received a U. S. Congressional award for her development of Social Thinking as a teaching and treatment approach for these challenges. Click on each workshop for more information and to save up to 20% off registration! November 5-6: Dallas Workshops - Michelle Joins Social Stories Creator Carol Gray December 2-3: South San Francisco Workshops
What is Social Thinking?
Social thinking is required before the development of social skills and successful social interaction. Successful social thinkers consider the points of view, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, prior knowledge and intentions of others (this is often called perspective-taking - considering the perspectives of others). This is for most of us an intuitive process. We can determine the meanings behind the messages communicated by others and how to respond to them within milliseconds to three seconds! Social thinking occurs everywhere, when we talk, share space, walk down the street, even when we read a novel and relate to our pets. It is an intelligence that integrates information across home, work and community settings - something we usually take for granted! In neurotypical (so-called normal-thinking) people, social thinking is hard-wired at birth and learned intuitively from infancy onward. While most of us develop our communication skills as we grow up, steadily observing and acquiring social information and learning how to respond to the people around us, many have great difficulties with this process. These difficulties with learning and applying social information is often considered a social learning disability. A Challenge for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Asperger Syndrome, ADHD, PDD, NLD and Others
Many people can score high on IQ and standardized tests and have quite limited social skills. In fact, the research published by the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders indicates that social thinking methodologies are successful at teaching the ability to interact socially in people with social limitations who have near-normal to way above-normal intelligence. In addition, the social thinking strategies that have helped children and adolescents have also helped adults. Because social thinking is so important to learning throughout life, professionals and parents are using social thinking methods to assist an increasingly broad range of individuals. The Social Thinking Approach - Dynamic to Meet Individual Needs
Twelve years ago, Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, coined the term social thinking and developed the social thinking treatment approach for individuals with high-functioning autism, Asperger's and similar challenges. In 2008, she received a U. S. Congressional award for her on-going innovation of the social thinking curriculum. Michelle, Tony Attwood, Carol Gray, Barry Prizant, Kari Dunn Buron, Diane Twatchman-Cullen, Cathy Pratt, Brenda Smith Myles have all contributed to social thinking and related treatment methodologies. Much of the growth of social thinking can be attributed to its use by professionals, parents and other caregivers who modify strategies for their settings and student needs. The term social thinking now encompasses many treatment programs described as "teaching social thinking and related social skills." These strategies share common traits:
For individuals being treated, the objectives of these strategies include the ability to:
Find Out MoreThe extensive content on this website offers more information on social thinking and related treatment strategies. On the left of the What is Social Thinking? section, please feel free to browse through the articles that interest you. You can also subscribe to the Social Thinking newsletter and check Michelle Garcia Winner's blog for the latest thinking on the topic. For more direct navigation through our extensive website, use the search tool at the top of each web page or the site map. |
