Versatile and ready-to-use, this revised and updated collection of 105 Thinksheets (worksheets that make you think!) help tweens and teens learn to navigate the increasingly complex social world. Because social rules and expectations change quickly with age, thinking and behaviors that are appropriate in elementary school can quickly become unexpected and problematic as students move into middle and high school. This book zeroes in on the real and pressing social challenges faced by tweens and teens, such as managing social anxiety, making friends, dealing with bullies, understanding body language, filtering thoughts and blurting, fitting in, and much more.

A structured approach to exploring social competencies

Divided into eight core social concept sections, this hands-on workbook is a structured, systematic approach that presents social concepts and situations as they increase progressively in complexity. This design supports special and mainstream educators, therapists, and parents in individualizing instruction as they help students thoughtfully explore and practice key social competencies before they are expected to use them in real-life situations. Topics include:

• Learning about others’ perspectives
• Discovering the hidden expectations at school
• Reacting, overreacting, and other emotional challenges
• The Not-So-Nice Side of the Social World
• Understanding when complete honesty may not be the best policy
• Knowing the difference between friendliness, friends, and mean people
• Working effectively with others

The Thinksheets are mini-lessons that break down abstract social concepts into small concrete chunks of information in a way that sticks with the learner. Like all materials we publish, the Thinksheets not only show which skills to use and when, but also “the why” behind the social skill instruction, bolstering learning and application for life beyond adolescence. Many educators have found that while this book was first developed for students with social learning differences, it benefits virtually all students in the mainstream classroom. Thinksheets can be used as-is or modified to better suit an individual student’s learning needs. We encourage creative and flexible uses of these materials in helping kids, students, and clients become stronger social thinkers and social problem solvers!

In addition, the thought-provoking strategies found in this book work powerfully in tandem with the information in Social Fortune or Social Fate and Socially Curious and Curiously Social, two award-winning Social Thinking books written expressly for tween and teen readers.