Social Thinking

Social Thinking® addresses the social learning and social interaction challenges that some special needs children with average or high levels of ability face. This includes, for example, coaching students to recognize verbal and nonverbal communication cues (e.g., eye movements, tone, gestures) and grasping the non-literal meaning of a statement. Successful social thinkers consider the points of view, emotions, thoughts, beliefs, prior knowledge and intentions of others. Children who are taught with this strategy are expected to develop the ability to recognize the different levels of their own and others’ social minds; to manage their behaviors for more rewarding social outcomes while considering how others perceive and respond to them; and to adapt to people and situations around them, from formal to causal settings.

These strategies differ from “social skills” training for typical people as they teach the most basic foundation skills of:

• How their own social minds work – why they react and respond the way they do
• The behaviors that make others feel good and those that make others feel bad
• And from this, how behaviors are affecting their own emotions, responses to and relationships with others across different social contexts

We are the only ABA service provider in Asia directly trained by Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking Team.