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Introduction to Social Thinking. Brittany Schmidt, MA-CCC/SLP www.abc-autism.com BrittanyABC@gmail.com 605-351-1002. What is Social Thinking?. The process through which we think about people and their thoughts, intentions, point of view, emotions, etc.
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Introduction to Social Thinking • Brittany Schmidt, MA-CCC/SLP • www.abc-autism.com • BrittanyABC@gmail.com • 605-351-1002
What is Social Thinking? • The process through which we think about people and their thoughts, intentions, point of view, emotions, etc.
What does it Mean to have “Good” Social Skills? • The ability to adapt one’s behavior to what you know or don’t know about people in specific contexts or situations.
Diagnostic Labels Related to Weak or Poor Social Skills Development: • High Functioning Autism (HFA) • Asperger Syndrome • Pervasive Developmental Disorder: Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS) • Nonverbal Learning Disorder (NLD) • Tourette’s • Fragile X • ADHD • OCD • Students who have no clear diagnosis but do not share space effectively!
Typical Development • Cooing, babbling, social referencing with paired vocalizations and eye contact • Word approximations, single words, 2-3 word phrases, sentences • All “superimposed” with the social use of these skills with a variety of people, in a variety of environments for a variety of purposes or functions
Social Curriculum • Social-Cognitive Deficits • Educational/Vocational Curriculum • Interaction of the two
Biggest issues are organization, independence and initiation of communication • Where are these individuals going as adults? • What obstacles will be the most impactful to their adult success? • How do we prepare them?
Goal of interventions… • To use each person’s strengths to teach increasingly abstract ideas, no matter the age. • The goal is not to make the disability go away, but to create more awareness and then use appropriate skills
Characteristics of ASD Must be considered • Social • Communication • Repetitive Behaviors and Patterns of Interest • Sensory Needs • Cognitive Rigidity • ILAUGH
Social Thinking is demonstrated by: • Effective communication • Personal problem solving/organizational skills • These are BIG areas when it comes to developing independence
Intervention for kids with poor social skills, is not quite so simple as teaching them better social skills. • We need to help teach students become more efficient social thinkers, before we can expect them to produce better social skills. • Example: eye contact.
Teaching Social thinking and related social skills is the treatment model for kids who have near normal to way above normal verbal intelligence. • Since social information develops with increasing nuance and sophistication by 3rd grade and older, we need to teach social thinking and social skills that provide more nuanced based information. • A behaviorally based social skills treatment approach fails to provide this level of cognitive information.
Why Social Thinking • Based on Theory of Mind (Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith, 1985) • Thinking about what others are thinking about you • Based on Executive Dysfunction (McEvoy, Rogers, Pennington) • Difficulty with organization and flexibility • Based on Central Coherence Theory (Frith, 1989) • Thinking in pieces without relating to a larger picture (conceptual learning deficit)
There is not a single moment in the day where social thinking and related social skills are not required and expected.
Critical Skills Required for Social Thinking---I LAUGH I Initiating L Listening with eyes and brain A Abstracting and Inferencing U Understanding Perspective G Getting the Big Picture H Humor/Human Relatedness
Initiation of Language • Ability to use language to seek assistance or information. • What is the difference between language use for assistance or information versus area of interest?
Listening with Eyes and Brain • Difficulty with auditory comprehension. • Integration of what is seen with what hears. • What is “Making a Smart Guess?”
Abstract and Inferential Language • Communicative comprehension goes beyond the words. • Flexibility in thinking is required. • Subtlety of nonverbal language. • Perspective taking.
Getting the big picture • Information is conveyed through concepts, not just facts. • Conceptual understanding in both language and reading. • Organizational difficulties.
Humor/human relatedness • Beyond the knock, knock joke.... • Subtle social cues. • Using humor appropriately or inappropriately?
Overarching concepts • 4 steps of communication • 4 steps of perspective taking
Four Steps of Communication • 1. Thinking about people and what they think and feel. • 2. Being aware of you physical presence as well as others. • 3. Using your eyes to think about others and watch what they are thinking about. • 4. Using language to relate to others.
Perspective Taking The ability to consider your own and other people’s: Thoughts and Emotions Motives and Intentions Prior Knowledge/Experiences Beliefs Personality
Perspective Taking • 1. I think about you, you think about me. • 2. I think about why you are near me, you think about why I am near you. (What is your intent?) • 3. I think about what you are thinking of me. You think about what I am thinking about you. • 4. I regulate my behavior to keep you thinking good thoughts about me. You regulate your behavior to keep me thinking good thoughts about you.
Core ST Vocabulary • Expected Behavior • Unexpected Behavior • Brain and Body in Group • Listening with Whole Body • Social (Detective) Tools • Thinking of You vs. Just Me • People File • Size of Thought
Teach Social Thinking and related social skills through explicit explanation of social expectations
Examples • Brain in Group • Listening with Eyes • Thoughts of others (Social Behavior Map) • People File