1. 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

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. WHO HAS SOCIAL LEARNING CHALLENGES?

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

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

9. 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

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

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

26. Kari Dunn Buron, 2007

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

28. 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

29. WWW.SOCIALTHINKING.COM Text ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON SOCIAL THINKING
INFORMATION ABOUT MICHELLE GARCIA WINNER’S
WORKSHOPS, NEWSLETTER,
BLOG, PUBLICATIONS
Text

30. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON TRANSDISCIPLINARY WORKSHOPS, INC.
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