Social Thinking Groups
Navigating the Social World
For most of us, interacting with other people comes naturally. However, students with social cognitive difficulties often lack the innate ability to think through and succeed in social situations. For them, social thinking must be learned and practiced. Based on the work of world-renowned expert Michelle Garcia Winner, we teach of a range of skills from perspective taking to interpreting and responding to the nuances of verbal and non-verbal communication.
Who can benefit?
Groups are geared for students with average to above average IQ who have social cognitive difficulties. We work with students as early as kindergarten. As students progress, they gradually move on to more complex social thinking topics depending on their maturity and interest level.
How do groups work?
New students are added to groups on an on-going basis. Each group includes two to five students and meets once a week. Groups are facilitated by our certified speech-language pathologist.
Promoting desirable social behaviors.
The program explores a wide range of topics, some examples include:
Expected vs. Unexpected - Students are taught that verbal and nonverbal actions have consequences in terms of how other people think about us.
What to keep in and what to let out - Students are taught that certain types of knowledge/opinions should stay in one’s head and others can be shared.