Michelle Garcia Winner Social Thinking Interventions Tara Grove December 14, 2011

Who is Michelle Garcia Winner? She specializes in the treatment of individuals with social cognitive deficits: those with diagnoses such as autism, Asperger Syndrome and non verbal disorders. She began teaching “social thinking” in 1995 to brighter students when she we went to work at a high school as a speech language pathologists. Social thinking was eventually developed as a way to reach those “bright but socially clueless students” that needed more information than just a social skill to use.

Michelle Garcia Winner Michelle entered into a private practice and eventually her clinical services continued to evolve and expand into, “Michelle Garcia Winner’s Center for Social Thinking, Inc.” Here she saw over 250 children for therapy sessions. Due to being in high demand, she soon had to higher other therapists and educational professionals and train them in the art and science of teaching social thinking. Simultaneously she began teaching and speaking internationally as well as self-publishing her own books A pioneer and visionary in her field, her work is being applied not only to persons with autism and related disabilities, but also more broadly to the students in mainstream classrooms and to adults in vocational and professional settings in the US and abroad. Her goal is to raise awareness among administrators , educators, and parents about the critical role that social thinking and social skill play in every student’s life, not only in academic success, but also for success in adulthood and life in general.

Scientific Angle of (as) Social thinking develops from birth, much like walking; it is intuitively “hard wired” into most people to work at learning how the social world works. A milestone of infancy is called “joint attention.” This occurs when babies naturally learn to look at people’s eyes and follow what they are looking at to figure out what they are thinking about. Communication usually develops rapidly once this milestone is reached. Also evolving from this core skill of joint attention are play skills, including cooperation, sharing an imagination and working as part of a group. Being able to play effectively with peers in preschool provides children with a skill base necessary to sit and learn in a classroom. Students with developmental delays in social thinking do not intuitively learn social information the way neurotypical children do. Instead, they have to be cognitively taught how to think socially and understand the use of related social skills. Due to this conclusion, the systems of “social thinking and related social skills was pioneered by Michelle Garcia Winner.

What is social thinking? Social thinking is what we do when we interact with people: we think about them. And how we think about people affects how we behave toward them, which in turn affects how others respond to us, which in turn affects our own emotions. Whether we are with friends, sending an email, in a classroom or at the grocery store, we take in the thoughts, emotions and intentions of those around us. But for many individuals, this process does not come naturally. And this often has nothing to do with academic intelligence. In fact, many people can score high on IQ and standardized tests, yet do not intuitively process social information and therefore do not find much reward in engaging in social communication and activities.

Social thinking Social Thinking strategies teach individuals: How their own social minds work - why they and others react and respond the way they do; How their behaviors affects those around them; And from this, how behaviors are affecting their own emotions, responses to and relationships with others across different social contexts. For individuals being treated, the objectives of these strategies include the ability to: Recognize the different levels of their own and others’ social minds; Navigate their behaviors for more rewarding social outcomes, which include considering how others perceive and respond to these behaviors; Learn to adapt to the people and situations around them, across contexts, from formal (classroom, workplace, etc.) to casual settings (hanging out, recess, etc.).

Social Thinking at school Asperger Syndrome (AS) is primarily a deficit of social cognition and social communication, recognizing that "social" means the ability to adapt to people in differing circumstances and not just those related to social interaction or social fun. However, one of the more obvious symptoms of persons with AS is their weakness in the development of social pragmatic skills that make for strained social relations within their peer group or when needing to work collaboratively in a group. Bottom line……. they just don't "get it" in complex social environments. 

Myth vs. fact Myth: People perceive that the primary treatment approach for people with AS is to teach them social skills within a social skills group with neurotypical peers serving as role models. Fact: While this approach allows for integration with a range of people, persons with AS and those with related social learning challenges truly need a much fuller treatment approach, one that explores social cognitive/communicative skills across a range of functions. They need to learn thinking that supports the skills required for interpreting and producing creative expression through reading, writing and talking, as well as communication skills for personal problem solving.

Core philosophies of social thinking: We “think with our eyes” to figure out other people’s thoughts, intentions, emotions, plans, etc. Our thoughts and emotions are strongly connected. How we think affects how we feel, how we behave affects how others think and feel. If “your friends are people who make you feel good about you over time,” then you must learn how to make friends and how to make other people feel good using your actions and your language. We think about people all the time, even when we have no plans to interact with them. We adjust our own behavior based on what we think the people around us are thinking. (This is how we drive our cars!). As part of our humanity, each of us is on a daily quest to avoid each other’s “weird thoughts.” We constantly consider people around us and adjust our behavior to help people have “normal thoughts about us.”

Core philosophies of social thinking: Most of the core social thinking lessons operate BELOW the level of cultures, meaning that all people engage in these thoughts and social behavioral adjustments. How we adapt our behavior changes as we age and are in different situations and cultures. The nuance and sophistication of our behaviors is constantly evolving. Social thinking is something all of us do every day, all day, even when we are alone in our homes. To understand a TV drama or sitcom one has to think about the character’s emotions, thoughts, reactions, etc. Even reading novels requires social thinking.

Core philosophies of social thinking: Social thinking, therefore, plays into our academic world, requiring us to think about the motives and intentions of people we read about in literature and history. Social thinking affects us in adulthood. To hold a job, most of us have to adapt our own social behavior based on the perceived thoughts of the people we work and live with. Social thinking is abstract and difficult to discuss since it is something we usually learn intuitively. Michelle has developed social thinking “scaffolds.” These frameworks help to describe some of the core ideas upon which social thinking lessons are constructed: Four steps of perspective talking Four steps of communication The ILAUGH model; which illustrates the social-academic connection.

Core philosophies of social thinking: Students with social thinking challenges often have mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and other diagnoses. Treatment for social cognitive deficits must also focus on managing anxiety and depression and understanding how social thinking is linked to these. Cognitive behavioral teaching strategies, such as social behavior mapping, inform as to how people think about each other. By learning how other people think, our students can understand other people’s points of view and why specific social and communication skills are required in different situations.

Why teach social thinking? When people learn how to think differently and flexibly they can think anywhere. This is different from just teaching a social skill. Individuals taught only the “skill” often will only perform that skill in the environment in which they learned it.

I laugh model Dependent upon implementation of the I LAUGH Model: Michelle Garcia Winner developed the I LAUGH Framework of social cognition to explain the multiple skills and concepts that we must process and react to in order to succeed at social interaction and personal problem solving. Dependent upon implementation of the I LAUGH Model: Reading comprehension of literature (analyzing the protagonists and antagonists in a story, predicting their future actions, interpreting their meaning, etc.) Written and oral expression (writing to support main ideas, summarizing, being sensitive to one’s audience, taking the perspective of the teacher to better understand expectations, etc.) Self and project organization (time management, planning and preparations, managing homework assignments, etc.) Playground play/hanging out Conversation Participating as a member of the classroom or a group

I laugh model The I LAUGH model approach takes six aspects of higher order thinking and explores how each aspect contributes communicative effectiveness and personal problem solving. I = Initiation of Communication (Kranz & McClannahan, 1993) Initiation of communication is the ability to use one’s language skills to establish social relations and to seek assistance or information from others L= Listening With Eyes and Brain (Mundy & Crowson, 1997; Kunce and Mesibov, 1998; Jones & Carr, 2004) Many persons with autism spectrum disorders and other social cognitive deficits have difficulty with auditory comprehension. From a social perspective, listening requires more than just taking in auditory information. It also requires the person to integrate information seen with that which is heard, to understand the full meaning of the message being conveyed, or to make an educated guess about what is being said when one cannot clearly understand it.

I laugh model A = Abstract and Inferential Language/Communication (Minshew, Goldstein, Muenz & Payton, 1992) Most of the language we use is not intended for literal interpretation. Our communication is full of idioms, metaphors, sarcasm and inferences. Each generation of teens creates its own slang; kids who follow along are in; those who don’t, are often out. U = Understanding Perspective (Baron-Cohen & Jolliffe, 1997; Baron-Cohen, 2000) To understand the differing perspectives of others requires that one’s Theory of Mind (perspective taking) work quickly and efficiently. Perspective taking is not one thing, it represents many things happening all at once meaning it is a synergistic and dynamic process. (I.e. Thoughts, Emotions, Physically coded intentions, Language based intentions, Prior knowledge and experiences, Belief systems, Personality)

I laugh model G=Gestalt Processing/Getting the Big Picture (Shah & Frith, 1993; Fullerton, Stratton, Coyne & Gray, 1996) Information is conveyed through concepts, not just facts. When involved in conversation, the participants intuitively determine the underlying concept being discussed. When reading a book of literature, the purpose is to follow the overall meaning (concept) rather than just collect a series of facts. H= Humor and Human Relatedness (Gutstein, 2001; Greenspan, & Wieder, 2003; Prizant, Wetherby, Rubin, Laurent & Rydell, 2006) Most individuals with autism spectrum disorders, Asperger’s and similar challenges have good senses of humor, but they feel anxious since they miss many of the subtle cues that help them understand how to participate successfully with others. It is important for educators and parents to work compassionately and with humor to help minimize the anxiety these children are experiencing.

The four steps of perspective taking To better understand how we take perspective in a group environment, Winner developed the “The Four Steps of Perspective Taking” to the process through which we share space effectively. Imagine you are in an elevator while you think of each of these four steps: 1. When you come into my space, I have a little thought about you and you have a little thought about me. 2. I 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. 3. Since we have thoughts about each other, I wonder what you are thinking about me. 4. 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.

The four steps of perspective taking The “thoughts” we are having about each other are often tiny thoughts that are almost at the unconscious level. However, it is the always-present, very active thought processes of those around us, when we are neurotypical, that allow us to constantly regulate our behavior to make sure that most people have very “normal” thoughts about us most of the time. These Four Steps of Perspective Taking are what is expected every student does across the school day while sitting in a classroom, on the playground or just hanging out.

Four steps of communication The four steps of communication involves social emotional thought, the nuance of physical presence and visually processing non-verbal cues in addition to language use and interpretation. The reality is that most speech and language social treatment programs teach students to focus almost exclusively on their social language production, called ‘conversational skills' when teaching students how to be more appropriately social. Step 1: Thinking about others and what they are thinking about us: We think about who we are near or who we want to talk to. If we are going to talk to someone, we consider what information we may already know about this person or what information we can infer based on the situation. Step 2: Establishing a physical presence: When we desire to communicate or ‘hang out' with another, or just need to communicate with another person, we have to establish a physical presence to show the person that we desire their company or intend to speak to them. The reverse is also true, if we want to avoid another person, we actively avoid establishing a physical presence.

Four steps of communication Step 3: "Thinking with our eyes” As we are thinking about the person we seek to communicate with and we establish physical presence, our intention to communicate is only explicitly clear once we have established eye contact with the other person. Furthermore, our eyes help to interpret emotional responses and track shifts in thinking of our communicative partner (e.g., joint attention) while also demonstrating social expectation that we are listening to our communicative partner. Step 4: Using language to relate to others: While language is central to all socially-based communication, it is often ineffective if the first three steps are not in place. For example, if a student comes up to tell you all the details about the Titanic and talks endlessly without considering what you are thinking and approaches with awkward physical presence and without establishing eye contact, the listener cannot help but experience a weird thought about the communicator even if his information may be interesting to listen to

Evaluation and assessment Social thinking is a synergistic, dynamic process, the outcome of which affects related social behavioral responses. Linear standardized tests cannot reveal the complexity of social thought required to think through and engage in these complex tasks such as having conversations, actively sustaining group play, participating in classroom discussions and working as part of a group in the classroom. To allow other methods for exploring the depth and complexity of social thinking and related social skills, Michelle Garcia Winner created a series of informal social cognitive/social pragmatic assessment tasks. These tasks appear to be more qualitative in how they capture students social processing and related responses. See www.socialthinking.com for possible social cognitive assessments.

references http://www.socialthinking.com/home http://www.corsefoundation.org/documents/SocialThinkingVoca bularyandWebsiteOrderFormtoPurchaseMaterials.pdf