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Social Fortune or Social Fate: A Social Thinking Graphic Novel Map for Social Quest Seekers

Social Thinking Worksheets for Tweens and Teens: Learning to Read In-Between the Social Lines

What is a Thought? (A Thought is a Lot!)

Social Town Citizens Discover 82 New Unthinkables for Superflex® to Outsmart!

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Michelle's Blog

Michelle Garcia Winner, who a decade ago started social thinking as a treatment approach for students with social and communication challenges, will update you on this instructional and treatment approach through her blog. You can bookmark the blog and subscribe it through a newsfeed (adding it to Favorites in Explorer or "Subscribe" in Firefox under Bookmarks or clicking on the blue icon in the address bar) or subscribe to Michelle's Social Thinking newsletter to get updates on new postings. We also will post new blogs on our Facebook page. You can link to the blog on your website and in emails. Please also feel free to browse the articles on the left for more on specific topics!

"I Don't Care!"

Details: Published on Thursday, 28 May 2009 09:34

"I don't care!" is a heavy topic to cover in a blog but here is my shot at it:

Many kids say "I don't care," "I don't want friends," "I don't like people," etc. I have heard these lines from elementary kids through adolescents. I rarely hear these from adults.

Here is my spin on this. Our kids struggle to do something that appears so easy and seamless to everyone else. Those that are "higher functioning" begin to notice that they are not fitting in, but they don't know how to make it right. At times our students have sat in "friendship groups" that didn't teach them what they needed to know, or the message was that "using good social skills" means you have friends but they sat in the group and they still don't have friends. They start to build walls around themselves and then fortresses: they need to protect themselves from thinking that they lack worth since they lack friendships. (Friendships do in fact help to validate our existence.)

Gifted at Home But Not in School?

Details: Published on Wednesday, 13 May 2009 17:00

Bright kids who have social-learning difficulties often (or usually!) experience a "home/school paradox." This question from a parent describes this well:

I have an 8-year old Aspie son mainstreamed in a high-performing public school who is, according to IQ, Raven's and state tests, gifted, but he only performs above average in class, unlike his typical gifted peers who get selected for GATE programs because of their superior classroom performance. At home, he does amazing things, but not in class. Is it a lack of motivation -- his own or the teacher's? Is it simply a "Hidden Curriculum" issue?

Here's my take:

My Dad's Remarkable Life - Part 1

Details: Published on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 17:00

Why is a book on the Holocaust being sold through our publishing company? To begin with, this is a book that was being written as I grew up. My dad is the Holocaust survivor described in this book, and his story of coming to terms with it is really in part a major story of my life. My mom was a writer; my dad had been out of "the camps," as we called them at home, about 11 years when he met my mom. They fell in love and married quickly. Little did my 1950s mom realize that she was going to "raising her husband" out of the camp experience and the related loss of his entire family, while she was also raising us three kids.

My Dad's Remarkable Life - Part 2

Details: Published on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 17:00

Think Social Publishing will not typically publish books unrelated directly to the topic of social thinking, but when my dad requested I help him get his book back into print, how was I to refuse? My childhood was very much about my mom helping my dad to recover from the Holocaust.

The Challenging Teen

Details: Published on Wednesday, 25 March 2009 17:00

Change is hard work. And change is all about being a teen. Boundaries are tested, conformity is rebelled against. I recently responded to an email about a challenging teen. The question helped me focus on the issues that you might face as you work with and live with your own teens.

Important Update on "Weird Thoughts"

Details: Published on Wednesday, 11 February 2009 16:00

Due to concerns from some parents about the misuse of the term "weird thoughts" by adult teachers with their students, we have revised our definition of this concept in our You Are A Social Detective book. In the next printing of the book, the concept "weird thought" will be changed to "uncomfortable thought." Please read the updated definition and note to parents and professionals using these concepts.

Social Thinking Across Cultures

Details: Published on Monday, 02 February 2009 14:23

I recently wrote an introduction to a booklet of mine that is being translated into Chinese for educators and parents in Hong Kong. The booklet summarizes the basic concepts of Social Thinking and the introduction shows how these concepts span cultures. I thought I would share the introduction with you...

The Learning is Slow but Deeper

Details: Published on Thursday, 08 January 2009 11:55

A practitioner recently asked me about the fact that she could get her 5 and 6 year olds to use the social thinking vocabulary, but they still weren't changing their behavior. Does this mean that they can't really learn to change their behavior?

The Gift of Giving

Details: Published on Monday, 22 December 2008 12:44

It seems fitting this time of year to explore what the "gift of giving" means. Our free markets would like us to believe this relates to the act of buying merchandise for others; that this is what we define as the best form of a "present". However, the unspoken expectation is not in the gift itself, but in the delight we have giving a gift that makes someone feel good...and the gift need not be of materialistic.

What Am I Trying to Make You Think? Social Thinking in Advertisement and on the Internet

Details: Published on Thursday, 11 December 2008 16:00

Social thinking is wrapped around holiday celebrations. An article that ran in my local newspaper this week spoke about how careful we have to be about the "clever" advertising of "sales". What is stated is not necessarily to be believed. Consumers beware. For example, a popular chain store advertised "free $25.00 in shopping" but the fine print expressed that this was only if you first spent $100.00. Another store said "25% off the entire store" in large print, but the fine print said "on any purchases over $300.00."

In our society "read the fine print" means: know the deal is never quite as good in reality as it sounds on the surface.

"Inside Out" Rather Than "Outside In" Thinking

Details: Published on Thursday, 20 November 2008 12:05

"That has nothing to do with me!" is a common thought, if not an expressed concern, of many of our students. Students with social learning challenges have unique weaknesses in perspective taking when compared to their like IQ peer group.

Perspective taking weaknesses come in many different sizes (see my article, "The Perspective Taking Spectrum"), but one common trait I have noticed is that for all of our students they need to explore lessons that are directly related to their own experiences. I call this "Inside Out Teaching."

The Anxiety Ah-ha!

Details: Published on Wednesday, 12 November 2008 16:00

I work closely with two colleagues, Stephanie Madrigal (primary author of Superflex: A Social Thinking Superhero Curriculum) and Dr. Pamela Crooke (co-author of You Are You a Social Detective). We now comprise the social thinking team that continues to create new ways to understand and teach about social learning. All three of us travel and give workshops, work in our Social Thinking Clinic in San Jose, CA, and create products to inform the public about what we have learned. While we are not technically doing research, we are constantly creating and testing our theories with our student and adult clients.

Obama, McCain & Social Thinking

Details: Published on Thursday, 06 November 2008 16:07

Thinking about thinking; this has become a focused aspect of my life. Fascinating to watch people think and then see how they respond to those thoughts. The presidential debates are a perfect case in point. Everyone in the audience was well dressed and well behaved, but I can't imagine there was a single person listening to the debate who did not have some irritated or even angry thought based on what was being said (or not said!). Even the candidates who were slinging mud (very subtly) at each other stayed composed; smirking when criticized but not showing sadness or obvious anger. How did everyone in that room learn such social self-control? From the audience to the candidates, from the pundits to the camera operators, no one yelled out "enough already; we can't stand to hear another put-down!", but that doesn't mean that most people didn't think that!