Jennifer Stroh Ed. S. , NCSP

Autism Specialist West Fargo Public Schools

Make the abstract concrete Provide structure and predictability Provide language scaffolding Provide varied learning opportunities Include “other-focused” activities Foster self-esteem Select relevant goals Program sequentially and progressively Provide on-going practice

Proposed Social Club in 2009 Met every 2 weeks from Jan-May Students nominated by teachers and letters

to parents inviting the students to join Student Invite sent a few days in advance Activities Social skills activities/guest speakers Bowling Wii tournament/board games Fridays – Go to lunch bunch Prepare favorite foods/serve to others End of year celebration

We have the support of our special education director and the high school principals

We were initially funded through special education stimulus money for activities

Advisors are paid through special education for time past contract time

We have had para-professional support as our numbers have grown which is also supported by our special education director

Our group sells concessions to fund our activities

Special education is still funding advisor and para-professional time

We are applying to become an official high school club for the 2013-2014 school year • This will pay advisors a stipend • Our group will continue to sell concessions to

fund activities

Gained many more students: starting with 10 and growing to 20 invited students

Survey Results Many said new friendships developed Learned “how to be more sociable” Wanted to meet in summer

Summer Activities Red Hawks Game Picnic

Meet every month 20 to 30 students attending each gathering and 40 invited each time by year 3

Student from small town presented to our group on student led IEP and then joined the group attending the following year with an hour drive each way

Activities added: Museum visits Plains Art Museum Fargo Air Museum

Community service Work at DBGR Buy Christmas gifts for needy family

Talent show Basketball Game

1st Guest Speaker: Don’t assume students know how to act during any social situation

Food Disasters: Christmas Cookie Fiasco, Space Alien’s Food Meltdown, Tutti Frutti Temptation

Talent Show Bloopers Social Skills class

We would like to organize a group of students to attend Prom together that would go out to eat and drive together, etc…

Foster Student Leadership for club organization and activities

Create a scrapbook for each year highlighting our events

“How to be kind to everyone even if I don’t like them.”

Want friends Enjoy the same activities you enjoy

Nonverbal to Very Verbal Disabilities

• Physical • Cognitive • Academic • Social

Behaviors • Inappropriate language • Inappropriate actions

1. Share Highs/Lows • What went well this past week. • What was not so good this past week. • Remember to respond to the Highs/Lows of the previous week.

2. Activity • Get to Know You • Games • APE=Adapted PE=Mr. Kalsow

• Exercise • Play games

• After school activities=attend a football game, etc. 3. Your Suggestions

• Offer opportunities to develop friendships with grade level peers

• Provide structured activities to encourage friendships

• Improve communication and social skills of middle school students

• MAKE CONNECTIONS

Within school day

• Christmas shopping at Target • Kitchen time • Adaptive PE • Lunch buddies • Scavenger Hunt • Games/Puzzles

After School • Attend sporting events-bb, vb, track • FACS club • School dance buddies

Future • Walking club • Book club

Objectives: 1. People who pay attention to others make others

feel good. When you make other people feel good they want to be with you.

2. Students have to think about what others are thinking.

3. Students have to learn to observe other people’s behaviors and form judgments about them.

4. Students have to realize that others are also thinking about them.

5. Students have to learn that social thinking is done in all environments (home, school, community) and the lessons need to walk with them out the door.

A way to help our students understand more about perspective, flexible thinking, problem solving, and how to change their own thinking and behavior.

Uses a superhero named Superflex to

teach expected behaviors and the Team of Unthinkables (characters used to represent common unexpected behaviors).

Teaching social communication skills and behaviors is quite complicated. We can introduce these lessons in the special education setting, but to have the student really learn to grasp how these skills impact him all day, every day, we need educational professionals and paraprofessionals, along with family members, to become acquainted with how to break down the information, teach, and reinforce these skills on a regular basis as the need comes up in the environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0xgjUhEG3U&feature=player_detailpage

Creativity: Multiple lessons will be needed in order for students to learn basic concepts. Creativity is essential to continue to teach the concepts in new ways.

Flexibility: Educators will do best with

this curriculum by being willing and able to adapt it to the specific student or group of students being taught.

Patience: Have the ability to celebrate very small steps as genuine progress. Shifts in social thinking will only evolve over a long period of time.

Humor: A sense of humor cannot be

undervalued. Being able to encourage laughter, even during the tricky moments, is helpful.

Students learn social lessons best in a

relaxed, fun, and creative environment.

Social thinking is a vital part of education for every student!

Every single moment of academic teaching is done within a social context.

It is important for regular education

teachers and those who work closely with the students to teach these concepts and use the vocabulary during teachable moments with students.

In this curriculum social concepts have been broken down and assigned new vocabulary and terms to behaviors that most of us intuitively expect from each other but rarely discuss, such as “thinking about what people think,” “keeping your body in the group,” “keeping your mind in the group,” thinking with your eyes,” “add-a-thought comments,” etc.

It is helpful to use vocabulary terms consistently across environments. This encourages students to observe the social connections between people and environments.

Every environment has a set of unwritten rules that people expect to be followed such as talking when it is your turn, respecting personal space, etc. When people follow these rules, some of which are not always explained to the student, then he is considered to be “doing what is expected.” Students who don’t follow the rules are doing what is unexpected and people may have “weird” thoughts about them.

You can change my feelings: People have feelings/reactions about other people’s behavior. Sometimes people have good feelings when people behave by doing what is expected and other times they have annoyed or angry feelings when others do what is unexpected. Students learn that their behavior affects other people’s feelings.

Big problem – Little problem: Not all problems merit the same concern or reaction. Discuss with the student if it was a truly big problem (near a crisis) or a smaller problem (a glitch). Glassman – makes people have huge upset reactions over small problems.

http://chapelhillsnippets.blogspot.com/2012/03/problem-meter-new-and-improved.html

Thinking about what people are thinking: Taking into consideration the thoughts of others is an important way to decipher what they expect from you. Encourage students in classrooms and at home to be more actively aware of the thoughts of others.

Good thoughts/Weird thoughts: All people have thoughts about other people. Most thoughts are good or normal thoughts, but each of us may do things each day which can cause people to have “weird thoughts” about us. Creating a small number of weird thoughts each day in other people is totally acceptable, but when we create too many weird thoughts in others, they start to think we may not be nice or safe to be with or that we just don’t seem to care about them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0h0qZCjR_k&feature=relmfu&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1&safe=active

Social Behavior Mapping: This is a technique to help students understand that their behaviors impact how people feel about them and the natural consequences that arise due to people’s feelings or response to such behaviors. A student’s feelings about the people around him are often based on how people are treating him.

Good social skills can be defined as “adapting efficiently in each context,” meaning we have to read the hidden social rules in each context and then regulate our physical presence, eyes, language, emotions, reactions, etc. This requires highly flexible thinking.

When we can incorporate all this information and regulate the body and mind to show we are effectively adapting to others across environmental contexts, we demonstrate that we are considering the perspectives of people across environments. We call this “social smarts.”

Preschool/Kindergarten: The Incredible Flexible You By: Ryan Hendrix, Kari Plamer, Nancy Tarshis, and Michelle Garcia Winner

Whole Body Listening Larry at School (also available at home)

Thinking About You Thinking About Me

Elementary: Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School Age Students by Michelle Garcia Winner

You Are a Social Detective Superflex: A Superhero Social Thinking

Curriculum Package Social Town Citizens Discover 82 New

Unthinkables for Superflex to Outsmart Whole Body Listening Larry at School Social Behavior Mapping

Middle School: Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School Age Students

Social Fortune or Social Fate: A Social Thinking Graphic Novel Map for Social Quest Seekers

Social Behavior Mapping Worksheets! For Teaching Social Thinking and

Related Skills Social Thinking Worksheets For Tweens and Teens:

Learning to Read In-Between the Social Lines Mike’s Crush For Families DVD Should I or Shouldn’t I? What would others think?

Game

High School through Transition to Adult: Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for School Age Students

Social Curious and Curiously Social: A social thinking guidebook for bright teens & Young Adults

Social Thinking at Work Mike’s Crush (DVD)

The New Social Story Book By Carol Gray The Incredible 5 Point Scale 2nd Edition (all ages)

and Social Behavior and Self-Management (Teens and Adults) by Kari Dunn Buron

The Zones of Regulation: A Curriculum to Foster Self-Regulation and Emotional Control By Leah Kuypers

When My Worries Get to Big By Kari Dunn Buron Inside Out: What Makes a Person With Social

Cognitive Deficits Tick By Michelle Garcia Winner

Thinking About You Thinking About Me By Michelle Garcia Winner

www.socialthinking.com Think Social! A Social Thinking Curriculum for

School Age Students By Michelle Garcia Winner Thinking About You Thinking About Me By

Michelle Garcia Winner Curriculum writing project with Deb Beeler and

Jennie Wollan Michelle Garcia Winner, Superflex… A

Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum Brenda Hansen, Becky Ulven, and Carlene

Gustafson: advisors for the high school and middle school social clubs