Social Thinking Group Updates ~ 3rd Nine Weeks

We've had a great time in Social Thinking groups over the past 9 weeks. Here are updates about the topics that we've tackled...

• Kindergarten/1st grade group: We've been learning the basics of Whole Body Listening and have read the book Whole Body Listening Larry at School. We've practiced "looking like Larry" as we attend with our whole body to the group. We've continued to work on being able to accurately identify feelings in static examples and beginning to attach the "why" of thoughts to the feelings. We've worked on basic play skills including sharing, taking turns, participating in a game even when it is not our preferred activity, and handling winning and losing. Finally, we've begun to work on basic social problem solving in book format by reading a story with a problem and then rewinding back to the beginning to find another way to approach the issue that will result in a more positive solution. These boys are working hard!

• 1st grade group: We began this 9 weeks by studying the Social Detective. The Social Detective is a super smart dude who uses three tools to help him make good social guesses. The tools in the social detective's toolbag are his EYES, EARS, and BRAIN. He takes the information he sees and hears and runs it through his brain computer to be able to make a smart social guess about what is expected and what might happen next.
  
  We practiced first with static images and then moved onto short dynamic video clips where the boys had to identify what in the video was expected/unexpected and make a prediction about what might happen next. This is TOUGH, but they became successful Social Detectives!
  
  Next, we moved on to beginning to learn about Superflex. Superflex is a super hero who uses his flexible brain power to help him defeat a team of Unthinkables. Unthinkables are not "bad guys", but instead are troublemakers who bother all of us at different times. So far, we've learned about defeating Rockbrain (his power is making you get stuck on your own ideas and not flexing to work with the group) and Crankenstein (who makes you fuss and say or do mean things when you don't get your way). When the boys demonstrated that they knew basic facts about Superflex and were ready to take on the challenge of growing their Superflexible powers, they were awarded with a Superflex cape. They have since earned their first "power badge" for demonstrating the power to defeat Rockbrain. They are currently working on earning their second "power badge" for defeating Crankenstein.
   
  One of the ways that we've practiced defeating Rockbrain was by running obstacle courses on the playground. But there was a catch! At any time in the routine, we would call "freeze" and change the plan. The kids had to be able to switch their activity to match the new direction. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  2nd grade: We have learned about applying our Superflex knowledge to solve social problems using the 5 Step Power Plan.
  
   click to download
  
  
  We have also engaged in a long unit on building conversation skills. The students have learned the parts of a conversation and that to maintain a conversation we have to keep the ball bouncing back and forth between participants. We can keep the ball bouncing by asking a follow-up question or comment. At home, you can practice this by encouraging your child to keep the ball bouncing back and forth between conversation partners during family time at dinner or even in the car as you run errands.
  
   click here to download
  
  
  Feel free to download either of the above visuals to help reinforce these concepts at home by clicking on the link below each image.
  
  
  3rd grade: During this 3rd nine weeks, we had a great time applying the social thinking concepts that the boys have been working to develop over the past couple of years in a cooperative movie project. The boys were divided into teams and assigned at least two Unthinkables to target. They had to work together to develop a story with a beginning, middle, and end that stayed on-topic. They created storyboards to tell the story, wrote scripts, designed sets from Legos, and then took about a bazillion photographs with digital cameras. I then helped them construct a stop-action movie on the computer where we applied sound effects and the boys recorded their dialogue. 
  
  
  The boys had to use many skills that targeted executive functioning including setting a goal, planning, negotiation and compromise, time management, writing skills, and their individual targeted language/articulation goals.
  
  
  Our movie premiere was quite the event and a visiting celebrity (Dr. Pena!) attended. The boys were super proud of themselves! And I was so impressed by the high level the boys applied all the social learning that they've done. This is a super group of young people!
  
  
  Check out their fantastic movie creations here...
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  We also finally harvested our garden. All groups were able to harvest a little bit, but unfortunately I only had my camera with me during one of the groups. :( So, here are a few shots of the great carrot/broccoli/cauliflower harvest. 
  
  
  The kids (and I!) definitely have great appreciation for anyone who lives off the land. :)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Social Thinking Group October Updates

I cannot believe we are already through our first nine weeks! Time is flying. We have accomplished so much during this time. Here are a few highlights from Social Thinking Groups this month...

Kindergarten & 1st Grade Groups - We have continued our study of the basics of social thinking by reading about Thinking With Your Eyes. Did you know that you can think with your eyes? Yep, it's a fact! The kids have learned that what they look at is what they are thinking about. They have practiced identifying what characters in the book and members of our group are looking at and thinking about by filling in their thought bubbles.

We've built on these skills by reading a book about The Group Plan. In our reading and follow-up activities, we have practiced identifying what the Group Plan is and how we can match our thoughts and actions to keep our brains in the group.


2nd Grade - The Second Grade Social Thinkers have now been promoted to Social Detective Status! They have learned that social detectives use tools from their social detective toolboxes to help them figure out what other people are thinking and feeling. They can then use these tools to make smart social guesses.


The tools that we all have in our social detective toolboxes are our eyes, ears, & brain. We take the information that we see and hear in our social situations, run it through our brain computers and we can make a smart guess about what might happen next! It's an amazing superpower to have!

Using these tools has helped us practice identifying expected and unexpected behaviors. It is very important to remember that behaviors are not "good" or "bad". They are just expected or unexpected in the situation. When people engage in expected behaviors they keep the group feeling good. When they engage in unexpected behaviors people might feel uncomfortable, angry, or have weird thoughts about us. Here are some helpful visuals to work with your child at home on expected and unexpected behavior.  You can click here to download a copy.

3rd Grade - Our 3rd grade Social Thinkers have done an extensive study on conversation skills. We have learned how to tell when it is a good time to have a conversation vs a no-so-great time. How to tell when others are interested vs not interested. We have learned about how body language affects our conversations. We have examined conversation maps and identified ways to keep the ball bouncing back and forth between conversation partners.

Over the next week or so we will wrap up our study of conversation by looking at different ways to maintain and extend conversations using non-verbal cues, humor, asking for clarification, sharing a similar feeling or event, asking questions to get more information, making comments that show that you understand how the other person feels, offering help, and making a complimentary comment.