Discover the latest strategies from our experts
At our conferences we share our latest frameworks, lessons, and strategies for teaching social thinking and related social skills to people ages 4 years old through adulthood. We offer 15+ full-day courses, each offering unique concepts and strategies regarding a particular theme or age group. All information presented can be used immediately in the classroom, home, community, and workplace!
The full-day courses that make up our conferences around the U.S. are presented by members of the Social Thinking Training & Speakers' Collaborative (STTSC)—highly trained professionals who are therapists and teachers based in several regions of the US and abroad (Singapore and Israel). All members of the STTSC are required to maintain active caseloads in schools or clinics in order to provide attendees with practical and relevant treatment information. Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, thought leaders in the development of the Social Thinking methodology, guide ongoing trainings of all members of the STTSC.
Social Thinking IS Academic Thinking: Making Connections Using the ILAUGH Model
Discover an array of concepts and strategies that bolster social learning and help students meet socially based educational standards. Explore the ILAUGH Model of Social Cognition to help break down and make sense of the social world. Uncover how challenges in social communication, executive functioning, and perspective taking impact written expression, reading comprehension of literature, organizational skills, and working in a group—and learn strategies to help students, clients, and patients improve in each of the above! Rounding out the day: learn essential tips for effective IEP goal writing and data keeping. The information taught in this course was developed to help individuals with social learning challenges, but teachers tell us all students in their classroom benefit from learning these concepts.
Using the Social Thinking® Dynamic Assessment to Guide Teaching Strategies: Understanding the Abstract Social Mind
Most of us can walk, skip, and run, but few of us can explain how we do this. It’s the same when it comes to our social selves. While we participate with others in our community, most of us can’t explain how we do this. In this course, we will demonstrate and explain practical assessment ideas, tools, and tasks to explore some of the many foundational competencies which help us to form and maintain relationships with classmates or friends. We’ll show how to implement and analyze findings from four informal assessment tasks found in the Social Thinking Dynamic Assessment. We’ll include video footage of actual dynamic assessments to reveal how individuals process and respond to social information in real time.
The Spectrum of Social Functioning: Getting Started with Treatment Planning
In this course, we answer the questions: What are core social learning challenges? How do we determine these challenges? How can we support learning and where do we start? Diagnostic labels such as ASD, ADHD, Twice Exceptional, Social Communication Disorder, etc. fail to pinpoint how to help an individual develop social competencies for use across the classroom, community and home. Nor do diagnostic labels help interventionists (professionals and family members) understand how social learning challenges are co-mingled with theory of mind, executive functioning and mental health challenges. In this course we will explain different types of treatment needs based on an individual’s social self-awareness, social-interpretive abilities, and social problem-solving skills. Learn practical strategies to develop skills that are required not only in relationship development but throughout academic curricula and standards.
Executive Functioning: Tackle Homework and Classwork with these Helpful Strategies!
Learn to help students better manage homework from classroom to home and back again. Explore the terrain between a student’s conceptual need (“I need to do my homework”) and the frustration that often results from an inability to plan or execute (“I can’t do my homework”). Concrete strategies to develop organized thinking and related skills will be explained. We will provide specific ideas to: encourage motivation; manage road blocks, emotions, and distractions; increase effective use of time; track multiple assignments; and more. Information can be used by attendees and students across school, community, and home. This course gets stellar reviews!
Implementing Social Thinking Concepts and Vocabulary: A Day to Develop Team Creativity
Both teachers and learners need practical ways to think about the social world. In this hands-on course, you will learn 15+ practical teaching strategies using Social Thinking Vocabulary and visual frameworks. The activities from this course focus on making abstract social information more concrete through lessons to teach social learners how to socially attend, interpret, problem solve, and respond to social information. Activities will also focus on strategies for teaching emotional understanding, theory of mind/perspective taking, and executive functioning to help learners meet their own social goals. Work in pairs or table teams to develop lesson plans for the home, clinic, or classroom the very next day. People love this hands-on, engaging course!
Master Class 1: Exploring Key Social Communication Concepts Through Hands-on Activities
Our master class is designed for those familiar with the core teachings of the Social Thinking Methodology who want to explore hands-on activities for promoting social competencies. Explore the Cascade of Social Attention and learn how to enhance the social learning of students, clients, and patients by focusing their social attention. Use our observation-based tool to develop a deeper knowledge of treatment needs, consider social interpretation and response, and improve functioning for those with social learning challenges. Video will be used to support teaching strategies, including longitudinal observation of individuals over a 10- to 20-year span. Plus, get tips on IEP goal writing and connecting information to educational standards. This course gets fantastic reviews and routinely sells out around the country!
Teaching Social Thinking to Early Learners Through Stories and Play-Based Activities
Guide children’s early social learning and play experiences to strengthen social competencies and classroom learning. Using video examples, multisensory lessons, and play, we provide strategies to teach children core Social Thinking concepts to help them learn in a group, think about others, use their whole body to listen, etc. This course teaches parents and professionals to implement with fidelity our award-winning curriculum, storybooks, and music collection: We Thinkers! Volume 1 Social Explorers (formerly The Incredible Flexible You!). The vocabulary and strategies are adaptable for use with other activities and age-appropriate literature.
Exploring Social-Executive Functioning and Social-Emotional Learning for Early Learners
What Does Play Have to Do with Classroom Learning?
Promote executive functioning with fun and innovative strategies to help kids understand and improve their group, classroom, and play dynamics. We’ll thoroughly explore how to figure out social expectations, make smart guesses, and other Social Thinking concepts. We’ll also delve into our new assessment and treatment-planning tool, which is paired with a checklist and play activities. The goal of this course is to offer cutting-edge information and teach attendees how to use We Thinkers! Volume 2 Social Problem Solvers with fidelity. Builds on the precursory course “Teaching Social Thinking to Early Learners Through Stories and Play-Based Activities.”
Social Detective, Superflex®, and Friends Take On Social Emotional Learning
You've asked for this course! Learn how to teach the award-winning You Are a Social Detective! and Superflex curriculum to boost social awareness and self-regulation. We’ll explain the critical scope and sequencing required to teach these materials with fidelity and help your students, clients, and patients improve their social competencies. These books are designed for elementary school children, but we’ll explain how to modify them for use with older kids. Lessons support social emotional learning (SEL) programs, Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and Response to Intervention (RTI). Interactive, creative group activities abound in this conference! Ultimately, learn how to encourage generalization and social learning for a lifetime.
Six Steps to Organize Practical Treatment Ideas for Building Social Competencies
Treatment planning to foster the development of social competencies can be complicated the social world is complex! In this course, we explore a unique six-step decision-making template to guide individualized treatment planning to foster social development and social competencies across different types of social learners.
We will explore conceptual and treatment frameworks and strategies from the Social Thinking Methodology as we learn how to understand and teach about how the social world works prior to expecting individuals to work (navigate to regulate) in the social world.
On this unique day we will also explore how to bundle or layer different treatment tools within and across different teaching sessions. Participants will be encouraged to apply the information gained in the workshop to one or more individuals with whom they live or work. Enjoy lots of hands-on participation and learning from your own and others’ treatment journeys in this course!
Zooming In: Strategies for Concrete Learners
Using video from treatment sessions, we zoom in on strategies to promote social attention and perspective taking (theory of mind) with students, clients, and patients who interpret language very literally and struggle to interpret what others think and feel. These more literal-minded individuals—who may have a diagnosis of autism levels 1 and 2, ADHD, and/or sensory integration challenges—are slow to develop social competencies and exhibit a range of other learning challenges related to their weak socially-based critical thinking. Video-based case studies will offer treatment ideas and show how this type of student evolves in their understanding of the social world as they grow up. Attendees will receive checklists to help differentiate types of social learners and connect social learning to the educational standards. Group treatment ideas for different age groups will also be introduced. Attendees appreciate the practical information shared across the day!
Zooming In on Strategies for those with Subtle yet Significant Social Differences and/or Challenges
Explore the needs of nuance social communicators who may have diagnoses such as autism levels 1 and 2, ADHD, and social anxiety as well as traits such as perfectionism, being oppositional, etc. Usually in mainstream classes, these individuals struggle with the intricacies of developing social relationships, working through assignments, and engaging in peer-based groups. Learn how even a slight impairment in flexible thinking, emotional understanding of self and others, problem solving, self-advocacy, and nuanced social interpretations can contribute to subtle but significant social challenges. Explore related treatment strategies while also learning tips to motivate students, clients, and patients to participate in treatment activities encouraging the development of executive functioning, perspective taking, and emotion management!
To Infinity and Beyond: Preparing Adolescents to Launch into the Real World
Adolescence is a complicated time, and it doesn’t help that the social rules continue to change and become more nuanced as we age. Some students are willing learners while others appear resistant to helping themselves. What’s a parent or professional to do? This course translates peer-reviewed published research on adolescent psychology, motivation, self-awareness, cognitive behavioral treatment, social learning challenges, acquiring independence, and more into hands-on strategies, clear frameworks, and concepts you can use immediately. Taking into consideration that the adult world focuses on access rather than success, we’ll explore job coaching strategies for literal-minded students, strategies for becoming more independent, and how interventionists can help prepare our persistently self-protective/resistant students. We’ll also share successful strategies for guiding our more sophisticated students in developing their own public relations and self-management campaigns. This course is packed with information!
Let’s Get Real: Tackling Dilemmas Faced by Adults with Social Learning Challenges
This course is specifically designed to address the needs of adults with social learning challenges who have solid to high language and learning skills to figure out the more nuanced hidden expectations of the work setting. Providing logical tools to make sense of the abstract social world, we focus on strategies to encourage flexible thinking, spontaneous perspective taking, and the role of emotions in meetings as well as when networking with peers—and more. Explore case studies to teach specific concepts and watch video of adults discussing the treatment process. Anxiety, depression, and inflexible thinking and their relationship to social learning will also be explored along with related treatment strategies. This is a compelling and important course!
Emotions Part 1: Understanding Emotions and Strategies to Develop Self-Regulation
How much do we really understand about emotions? In this first course in our two-part series on emotions, explore the power of emotions, how the brain processes negative and positive emotions differently, and why this is important when helping individuals better self-regulate their emotions and behavior. Discover why negative emotions tend to take center stage and often become barriers to personal and academic achievement—and strategies to break the cycle. Explore how self-conscious emotions can shut us down or fuel our success, the impact of emotion on memory, how past emotional experiences can impact decision making, and more. Practice using hands-on tools and activities to help your students, clients, and patients understand their own complex emotions and ultimately develop self-regulation.
Emotions Part 2: Emotion-Based Strategies to Foster Relationship Development and Academic and Career Performance
Emotions are at the heart of connecting with others and forming community. We expect children and adults to intuitively navigate the abstract nature of emotions by having emotional self-awareness and self-regulation, inferring the emotions of others, reading others’ intentions, etc. These skills are required for developing relationships, understanding the actions of characters in literature and history, working as part of a team, and much more—impacting performance on academic standards and success in the 21st century workplace. In this second course in our two-part series on emotions, learn novel treatment tools and strategies to help students, clients, and patients develop emotional awareness, explore how to read the emotions and intentions of others, emotionally sync with others, and work through social anxiety. To maximize your learning we recommend attending the course Emotions Part 1 before Emotions Part 2, but it’s not required since key concepts from the first course will be summarized in the second.
Practical Ideas for Teaching Self-Regulation & Building Friendships
When a student says or does something that seems out of sync with the group, many are quick to call this a “behavior problem.” Likewise, when it’s hard to make a friend, or friendships dissolve into dislikes, we may see this as reluctance or resistance to building relationships. The reality is that both managing one’s own behavior and building relationships are complex. They require a foundation of self-awareness, social interpretation, and problem solving. This course will focus on how to rethink what is meant by “behavior problems” and teach lessons that encourage the development of social competencies to meet one’s own personal social goals. We will also unpack different aspects of peer-based relations, from friendship to dislike, and provide practical tools and perspective-taking activities to encourage student motivation to continue developing increasingly complex relational competencies as they age.
