Now more than ever, social learning is an integral part of the academic day. The Social Thinking Methodology provides a pathway between recognizing the importance of social learning and giving practical ideas to teach it. Our methodology is for individuals with social learning differences, difficulties, or for those who could just use a few extra tools to figure out the social world. For many years we’ve been working with elementary schools around the world to bring these concepts to life in classrooms and schoolwide.

The same social thinking needed to relate effectively to others is also essential for success in academics. Central to this teaching is how students use their social mind not only to play on the playground, but also to work as part of a group, figure out what to do or say, share space with others, organize their materials, and interpret stories, relate experiences, ask for help, and more. Social thinking is critical for socially based academic tasks, such as reading comprehension, explaining one’s ideas when writing to different points of view, or giving a classroom presentation.

Our tools and materials support teaching social learning and, more specifically, self and other awareness, social interpretation, problem solving or decision making, and social responses. This all comes together to foster relationship development as well as academic skills. Our experts provide practical examples and stories of how elementary schools have implemented aspects of the Social Thinking Methodology to support these competencies in their own regions, states, and school districts. When working with schools, they can provide ideas and inspiration to:

• set up classrooms and other social learning spaces using visual supports
• use specific lesson plans during the first weeks of school
• infuse the Social Thinking Vocabulary across a school day and over time
• learn strategies for teaching social observation, shifting between and within activities, and classroom expectations

One of the benefits of schoolwide implementation is the bridge that it builds between environments and people. When classroom teachers and specialists share the same language and strategies it creates a more cohesive learning environment. We can also offer thoughts on navigating tricky group dynamics, as well share our favorite activities to kick off a new school year. We hope you'll partner with one of our experts to bring social learning through the Social Thinking Methodology to your school or clinic!

Social thinking is the process by which we interpret the thoughts, beliefs, intentions, emotions, knowledge, and actions of another person along with the context of the situation to understand that person’s experience. If we are engaging or sharing space with another person, we use this information to determine how to respond to affect the thoughts that person has about us to achieve our social goals (such as being friendly to maintain a friendship, acting generous to impress a date, and seeming unfriendly to deflect attention when walking alone late at night, etc.). Social thinking is our meaning maker—it allows us to interpret the deeper meaning behind what others do in the world, and (if the situation calls for it) prompts us with how to respond. A person’s social thinking strength has a considerable effect on their relationships and success in school and at work. It affects the person’s social skills, perspective taking, self-awareness, self-regulation, critical thinking, social problem solving, play skills, reading comprehension, written expression, ability to learn and work in a group, organizational skills, etc.