Dedicated to Advancing Social Learning for a Lifetime of Well-Being

Course Content Disclosure: While this course includes information on other products and the work of other authors, it focuses primarily on the content included in the We Thinkers! Volume 2 Social Problem Solvers curriculum, storybooks, and the GPS assessment and treatment guide for the purpose of teaching this information with fidelity.

Social-executive functioning is at the heart of successful play, social interaction, and learning as part of a group. In this course, we’ll teach how to move from the five basic Social Thinking lessons in We Thinkers! Volume 1 Social Explorers (formerly The Incredible Flexible You!) to the more complex lessons presented in We Thinkers! Volume 2. Attendees will engage in research-based group learning activities and learn strategies to apply in the classroom, clinic, or home the next day. Explore concepts such as the role of play and working as part of a group in the development of self-regulation, social problem solving, and executive functioning. We will also look at why a child who has difficulty with social attention will have trouble with sharing an imagination and interacting/playing with peers. Learn to teach kids to become better social observers and decipher the hidden rules and social expectations of a situation. From there we move to teaching strategies around the concepts of flexible versus stuck thinking, recognizing the size of the problem, making smart guesses, and sharing an imagination. Learn to use Social Thinking’s newest tool, the Group Collaboration, Play and Problem Solving (GPS) Scale, to understand the five different levels of play and how they relate to classroom participation and academic standards. Understand how this scale interfaces with and expands upon other known scales such as the Westby Play Scale (2000), a highly regarded standard in the literature of play assessment. Learn how the lessons and activities in the We Thinkers! curriculum are adapted for each level of Social Thinking’s GPS and how the information can be used in Pre-K–2 mainstream classrooms as part of social and emotional learning (SEL), Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and Response to Intervention (RTI) programs. Our goal is to teach how to use We Thinkers! Volume 2 and related treatment* ideas with fidelity. The information presented on this day builds on the five core Social Thinking concepts presented in our precursory course “Teaching Social Thinking to Early Learners Through Stories and Play-Based Activities.”

*Treatment refers to using conceptual and strategy-based frameworks to help individuals improve their social thinking, skills, and competencies.

Overview of the Emotions series:
This course is the first of a two-day series on emotions, in which Michelle Garcia Winner, the founder of Social Thinking, examines how emotions are the undercurrent of all forms of social communication and are at the heart of personal problem solving, motivation, and life memories (episodic memory). She explains how this information applies to typically developing individuals while also exploring how to teach it to individuals with social-emotional learning challenges. Across the series, we will explore how to teach students, patients, and clients about their emotions and social self-regulation across three contexts: 1. pursuing goals to meet individual needs; 2. working collectively to be part of a group (e.g., classroom, playground, restaurant, team); 3. interacting face-to-face with one or more people. Attendees will engage in hands-on activities and explore use of treatment* scales and frameworks to unpack the social-emotional experience for their students, patients, and clients. Strategies will be discussed to improve self-regulation, problem solving, and social communication.

*Treatment refers to using conceptual and strategy-based frameworks to help individuals improve their social skills and competencies.

Emotions Part 1:
In this first course, attendees will explore information and research-based treatment ideas that focus on each person’s emotional self. Join Michelle to explore these topics:

• The negative–positive emotional framework and how the brain processes different types of emotional information
• Emotions and personal memory making (episodic memories), which are relevant in all environments, including in school, community, home, and vocational settings
• Memory and narrative language: how emotions impact how we explain ourselves to others, and what to do if a student, patient, or client is stuck recalling only negative experiences
• Hands-on activities to explore the depth and complexity of an individual’s feelings and emotions, and practice using treatment tools (e.g., visual scales, treatment frameworks, etc.) to help make the implicit more explicit
• The definition of self-conscious emotions and their tie to social anxiety
• How emotions are embedded within Social Thinking’s Social Competency Model
• How Superflex’s Worry Wall and other Unthinkables can be used to encourage expression of the emotional self to foster self-regulation
• Use of manipulatives to guide individuals to express their feelings and experiences, and problem solve when language falls short
• Case-study: Review of longitudinal treatment for a grumpy 13-year-old; how the invention of the Pyramid of Dislike paired with Social Thinking’s Friendship Pyramid provides self-discovery and motivation to increase peer engagement and emotional satisfaction
• And much more!

Attendees will learn a lot to help their students, patients, and clients—and a lot about themselves—given how this fascinating topic impacts us all!

In this second course in our two-day series on emotions, Michelle Garcia Winner will explore how emotions play a large role in the social interactive process and in relationship development, including when greeting someone in the hall, developing relationships for teamwork, creating social networks and longer-term friendships, etc. Emotional intelligence is also embedded in academic standards worldwide. Explore many strategies that can be used immediately in the classroom, at home, and at work related to these topics:

• Social anxiety disorder (SAD) and autism spectrum disorders:
  • the overlap and need to focus on developing social competencies
  • what to be aware of with regard to depression and sadness
• Social-emotional learning:
  • How to validate the social-emotional learning process, as individuals explore their social vulnerabilities
  • Recognizing the power of one’s inner critic and coach
  • Case study on a student’s tracking of his emerging social operating system
• The social evaluative process: how we account for each other’s intentions
• Interpreting the hidden emotional messages of others
• Your personal self-marketing campaign: what message is your face sending?
• Use of scales for many different reasons:
  • Evaluation of social risk
  • Helping students evaluate their own social-emotional experiences
  • Getting a student’s perspective
  • And more
• Case study: working with a school-phobic student
• Relationship development and social-emotional competencies:
  • Don’t start with conversational skills! How little acts of positive kindness go a long way toward relationship building
  • Use of emotional syncing to share our experiences in a manner that is interesting to the listener
  • The emotions behind adding a thought and asking questions to others
  • Using physical manipulatives to encourage social-emotional reappraisal of people in context
• Social-Emotional Chain Reaction: Introducing three levels of teaching Social Behavior Mapping
• If time permits, personal problem solving
  • Case study of an adult engineer in a Silicon Valley company
  • How the game of chess is an analogy for the social evaluation process inherit in social communication
  • Getting stuck on the negative: reframing how negative moments can be part of positive experiences

To maximize your learning, we recommend attending the course Emotions Part 1 before attending this course.

NOTE: Treatment refers to using conceptual and strategy-based frameworks to help individuals improve their social skills and competencies.