BARBARA BAUM FREETHY, M.ED. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THERAPIST UNDERSTANDING THE SOCIAL THINKING MODEL LIVES IN THE BALANCE 3RD ANNUAL SUMMIT November 8, 2013 Portland, Maine BARBARA BAUM FREETHY, M.ED. SOCIAL COGNITIVE THERAPIST 225 COMMERCIAL STREET PORTLAND, MAINE 04101 barbara@transdis.com

SOCIAL THINKING v. SOCIAL SKILLS “Social thinking is a user-friendly term for social cognition. Social thinking is required prior to the development of social skills. Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

WHAT IS SOCIAL THINKING? The ability to consider your own and others thoughts, emotions, beliefs, intentions, knowledge, etc., to help interpret and respond to the information in your mind and possibly through your social behavioral interactions Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

What is a Successful Social Thinker? One who has the ability to adapt their behavior effectively based on the situation and what they know about the people in the situation for them to react and respond to them in the manner they had hoped Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

Why do we use Social Skills? To impact how we make people feel which then impacts how they feel about us Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

WHO HAS SOCIAL LEARNING CHALLENGES?

Kids with lagging skills in: Executive Functioning Cognitive Flexibility Language Skills Emotion Regulation Social Skills Sensory/motor Difficulties have SOCIAL COGNITIVE CHALLENGES! Freethy 2011

LANGUAGE PROCESSING COGNITIVE FLEXIBILITY SOCIAL COGNITION EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONING EMOTION REGULATION Mary Duggan, LCSW 2006

THINKING ABOUT YOU THINKING ABOUT ME Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states—beliefs, intents, desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. —to oneself and others and to understand that others have beliefs, desires and intentions that are different from one's own. Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

THE I-LAUGH MODEL MICHELLE GARCIA WINNER, MA, CCC-CLP I = INITIATION OF COMMUNICATION L = LISTENING WTH EYES AND BRAIN A = ABSTRACT & INFERENTIAL LANGUAGE U = UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVE G = GESTALT PROCESSING: THE BIG PICTURE H = HUMOR AND HUMAN RELATEDNESS Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

I= INITIATING INITIATING COMMUNICATION IN UNFAMILIAR OR MORE STRESSFUL SOCIAL COMMUNICATIVE CONTEXTS Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com .

L= LISTENING WITH EYES AND BRAIN Listening is not all about auditory processing but also about how we synchronize non-verbal communication skills to process and respond more succinctly to a message. INTEGRATING WHAT ONE SEES AND HEARS IN ORDER TO UNDERSTAND THE MESSAGE BEING COMMUNICATED Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

A = Abstract & Inferential Language/Communication Understanding subtle nuances in verbal and body language Take what we know about a situation and make a guess Dealing with abstract language Formulating ideas Fully understanding the meaning of nonverbal communication Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

U = UNDERSTANDING PERSPECTIVE Perceiving your own and others thoughts, emotions, physical intentions, language based intentions, prior knowledge and experiences, belief systems, and personality Incorporating the above information and responding within milliseconds to two seconds NOT ONE THING BUT MANY THINGS HAPPENING AT ONCE BEGINS WITH EYES HAVE THOUGHTS; WE THINK WITH OUR EYES THINKING ABOUT YOU THINKING ABOUT ME Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

Perceiving Your Own and Others: UNDERSTANINGPERSPECTIVE Perceiving Your Own and Others: Prior Knowledge Belief System Experiences Personality Thoughts Emotions Physical Intentions Language based Intentions Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

G =GESTALT GETTING THE BIG PICTURE CENTRAL COHERENCE THEORY: getting the point, or gist, of things. It is the ability to pull information from different sources, experiences and schemas, both internal and external, to glean a higher meaning. Lacking central coherence can leave an individual vulnerable to misinterpreting of situations and communications. Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

H = HUMOR AND HUMAN RELATI0NSHIPS IS AN ASPECT OF PERSPECTIVE TAKING ADDS ENERGY AND FUN TO THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

The Social Learning Tree Roots grow with neurological capacity Trunk, dependent on growth of roots, relates in part to the I-LAUGH model Each branch represents one aspect of the diverse range of concepts/skills the emerge from the core Leaves represent individual strategies/skills needed in executing that branch Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

4 Steps of Perspective Taking When you come into my space, I have a little thought about you and you have a little thought about me. wonder “why are you near me?,” “what is your purpose for being near me?” “Is it because you are just sharing the space, do you intend to talk to me or do you intend to harm me?” I have to consider all these things in order to keep me safe around people as well as to predict what will happen next. Since we have thoughts about each other, I wonder what you are thinking about me. To keep you thinking about me the way I would like you to think about me, I monitor and possibly modify my behavior to keep you thinking about me the way I want you to think about me. Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

4 Steps of Communication Thinking about the person you are planning to talk to Establishing physical presence Thinking with your eyes Use language to related to others Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

SOCIAL COMMUNICATION LEARNING STYLES AS A GUIDE TO TREATMENT AND PROGNOSIS: THE SOCIAL THINKING-SOCIAL COMMUNICATION PROFILE formerly known as the Perspective Taking Spectrum Michelle Garcia Winner, Pamela Crooke and Stephanie Madrigal, January, 2011 www.socialthinking.com

Categories of Social Thinking Scale Severely Challenged Social Communicator (SCSC) Challenged Social Communicator (CSC) Emerging Social Communicator (ESC) Nuance Challenged Social Communicator (NCSC) (a) weak interactive social communicator and (b) socially anxious social communicator Neurotypical Social Communicator (NSC) Resistant Social Communicator (RSC) Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

The Double Interview Amy Miller, 2002; Michelle Garcia Winner, 2006 Evaluates ability to shift perspective Evaluates ability to organize thoughts into language that moves in a purposeful direction towards someone else’s area of interest and to follow up with more specific questions to explore another’s interest Three parts to interview

Social Thinking Vocabulary Think with your Eyes Expected/Unexpected Behavior Good thoughts/Uncomfortable Thoughts Smart Guess/Whacky Guess Social Fake Social Rules Change with Age Size of the problem Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

Social Thinking in School and Home Within the Classroom Social thinking groups Generalizing across settings Parent Involvement

Kari Dunn Buron, 2007

Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com Superflex and His Team Of Unthinkables AN UNTHINKABLE ON THE LOOSE! Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

Core Social Thinking books include: Inside Out: What Makes a Person with Social Cognitive Deficits Tick Thinking About YOU Thinking About ME, 2nd Edition Think Social! ©2012 Social Thinking Publishing - Michelle Garcia Winner www.socialthinking.com

WWW.SOCIALTHINKING.COM Text ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SOCIAL THINKING INFORMATION ABOUT MICHELLE GARCIA WINNER’S WORKSHOPS, NEWSLETTER, BLOG, PUBLICATIONS Text http://www.facebook.com/#!/socialthinking

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON TRANSDISCIPLINARY WORKSHOPS, INC. WWW.TRANSDIS.COM PROVIDING HIGH QUALITY CONTINUING EDUCATION PROGRAMS INCLUDING THOSE RELATED TO COLLABORATIVE AND PROACTIVE SOLUTIONS AND SOCIAL LEARNGING CHALLENGES For More Information on clinical services: BARBARA BAUM FREETHY Social Cognitive Therapist Certified CPS Provider 207-775-5100 barbara@transdis.com