What is Social Thinking
What is Social Thinking 2.0
And after 27+ years, we now know that Social Thinking is still in its infancy (or early childhood) because there are so many current pathways to nurture and new ones to blaze. We hope you’ll walk away with the idea that Social Thinking concepts are relevant across all neurotypes. In the early years, the autism and special education communities were the only populations to embrace our work. Now, as we move past the pandemic, reflect on the neurodiversity movement, and heed the research related to the academic, social, and organizational needs of all children, we find our work is found more often in Tier 1 classrooms, homeschools, private schools, or in smaller groups of students whether considered neurotypical or neurodivergent. In other words, all students need tools to think socially for both academic and social worlds.
So, at our core we still remain committed to supporting people who seek tools and strategies to make gains towards their social goals, regardless of whether they have a diagnosis or not. We have new ways of talking and writing about what we do, so if you are looking for a way to explain the core of the Social Thinking® Methodology, here is an infographic that might help.
Social Thinking 2.0 emphasizes:
Learner led: Teaching begins with the individual and their goals. The lessons are based on the perspective and goals of the individual. It is never about fixing a person but rather giving individuals tools to meet their goals. We also need to educate others about learning systems and differences. Always be a learner first—understand the individual and their perspective before launching into the role as educator or therapist. Also, empower your students to be leaders, peer supporters, includers, advocators, and mentors to promote a community of belonging.
Social thinking is different than social skills. Our work always has and always will focus on the thinking, or “why” we might want to use our social skills or build new ones. The emphasis is on thinking about thinking (i.e., metacognition) and not about producing rote social skills.
Embrace assumption-free learning. Not everyone learns in the same way, has the same neurology, or finds the same strategies a match for who they are and their social goals. We believe that people need choices and autonomy too. That means it’s our role to provide plenty of tools for their personal toolkit, because knowledge is power. Our tools may seem simple for some and difficult for others, but they are foundational for all.
Inside-out teaching is critical. This means starting from the perspective of the individual. We continue to emphasize this because it is so crucial to learning. We ask individuals to notice what’s happening inside their own thoughts and bodies (checking in) while also taking note of what’s going on around them (checking out the situation), because each impacts how a person interprets and responds to the social and academic worlds.
- Academic standards require us to think socially. Our methodology helps to build a foundation for reading comprehension, literacy, written expression, executive functioning, and self-regulation.
So, keep checking in and join our newsletter if you aren’t already part of our community. We will continue to talk about what’s new, and you’ll have access to free lessons and articles, or just learn about Social Thinking 2.0.
What is Social Thinking?
1. The Term
Social thinking” or thinking socially refers to a process we all go through in our minds as we try to make sense of our own and others’ thoughts, feelings, and intentions in context, whether we are co-existing, actively interacting, or figuring out what is happening from a distance (e.g., media, literature, etc.). Our ability to think socially is part of social, emotional, and academic learning that begins at birth and evolves across our lifetimes. Social thinking, in this context, is also referred to as social cognition and has a deep and rich base of support in developmental research.
2. The Business
Think Social Publishing, Inc. is the name of our business, informally referred to as Social Thinking (capitalized S and T). Our business has the purpose of creating, publishing, and distributing information about our broad-based Social Thinking Methodology. We also teach educators, therapists, and caregivers through face-to-face trainings and online platforms.
3. The Methodology
Evidence-based strategies for:
The Social Thinking Methodology is a developmental, language-based, and thinking-based (metacognitive) methodology that uses visual frameworks, unique vocabulary, strategies, and activities to foster social competencies. The methodology has assessment and support components for both educators, therapists and caregivers and social learners. The methodology is designed for individuals with solid to strong language and cognitive abilities, both neurotypically developing and Neurodivergent.
Teaching social competencies—more than social skills
The foundation of our work provides educators, therapists, caregivers, and social learners with frameworks, tools, skills, and a shared language to improve social competencies—more than just social skills.
Our goal is to help people learn explicitly how to engage in social information processing; how to attend, interpret, problem solve, and respond in any situation—the thinking and doing skills that will aid them in becoming increasingly successful in the social world throughout their lives.
At some point we all struggle in social situations. Engaging in a social emotional thinking/feeling- based process can be difficult at times for everyone in the social world. Our role as educators, therapists, and caregivers is to help motivate social learners to "do the work" and explore how we all share social expectations, thoughts, feelings, make mistakes and try again as we learn to navigate our way toward our social goals. The practical nature of our teaching and the concrete way we explain social concepts helps engage people in social learning, not only about themselves but about others.
Evidence-based and research-informed strategies for educators, therapists, and caregivers
The social world is an enormous and complex place. You, the educator, therapist, caregiver, or other supporting adult, must first gain your own understanding of how the social world works before teaching social learners about it. The Social Thinking Methodology relies on both research-based and evidence-informed information to teach social learners about the how the social world works. We also believe in the importance of taking time to understand the social learner from their unique perspective. We consider how the individual learns best, what they value, and their social goals. It is only after spending time understanding the social world and the social learner that we begin to tackle strategies for teaching how to work (navigate to regulate) in the social world. The Social Thinking Methodology has specific components to teach about these aspects through free articles, products, conferences, livestreams, on-demand courses, and free webinars.
Evidence-based and research-supported strategies for social learners
Social learners are individuals ranging from ages four through adulthood who are learning about how the social world works while also learning how to work (navigate to regulate) in the social world (within themselves and among others). We are all social learners. Over the course of our lives, we cycle through different phases of gathering knowledge about how the social world works and then use that information to work (navigate to regulate) in the social world. The Social Thinking Methodology relies on both evidence-based and research-supported information to teach social learners about the how the social world works and strategies for navigating and regulating in it. Being a social learner is a lifelong process.
