Social+Thinking

1. Description of Intervention a) The following link will take you to the official “Social Thinking” website: []     b) Social Thinking is designed to be used with people who have social skill deficits such as those on the Autism Spectrum, n onverbal learning disabilities, attention deficit disorder, with or without hyperactivity (ADD, ADHD), hyperlexia, generalized learning disabilities, social phobia, social anxiety disorder or schizoid personality disorder. People with the following diagnoses may also have social cognitive deficits: tourette’s syndrome, obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD), oppositional defiant disorder, emotionally disturbed, sensory integration disorder, expressive-receptive language disorder, apraxia, or bipolar disorder. Since social thinking actually begins at birth, you can begin using the strategies in this program at that time and use into adulthood. Social thinking works well with both genders. c) To be become a qualified “Social Thinking” professional, you would need to complete a three day mentor training. Other than patience and consistency with the program, there are no specific qualifications necessary to use this program.     d) The three day training cost $1,150, not including travel and meal expenses. The additional cost of implementing “Social Thinking” varies depending on the number of books and supplies you purchase from the company. e) There are no noted potential risks of using the “Social Thinking” program. The whole idea of the program is to make people with social deficits more socially aware of others.     f) The benefits of the “Social Thinking” program are set out help people with social deficits become more their own thoughts, feelings, and actions as well as become more aware that others have thoughts and feelings about us and our actions. g) Once introduced to the population or individual and since it can be implemented by parents, teachers, counselors, just about anyone, “Social Thinking” can be used in any setting. It is intended to be used as a constant.     h) This model is a shift from traditional social skills interventions in that “Social Thinking” promotes understanding of “why” related social skills are relevant in social exchanges. This study raises valuable issues for further research (Crooke, Hendrix, & Rachman, 2008, p. 590). 2. Research Study Crooke, P. J., Hendrix, R. E., & Rachman, J. Y. (2008). Brief Report: Measuring the Effectiveness of Teaching Social Thinking to Children with Asperger Syndrome (AS) and High Functioning Autism (HFA). // Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38 //(3), 581-591. a) The subjects of this study were six male children all with a diagnosis of either high functioning autism or asperger’s syndrome. The subject’s ranged in age from 9 to 11 years with verbal IQ’s in the average range and had not before received social skills training of any kind. Two of the six subject’s attended school in general education classes with no academic or social support. One of the subject’s received support for reading and written language; one attended private school and received outside speech therapy; two were considered home-schooled, enrolled in a “virtual academy.” None of the subjects were taking medication during the study.     b) This study is one piece of a larger, multiple baseline treatment study that examined the effectiveness of a Social Thinking approach in six adolescents with AS/HFA across behaviors and environments. In this brief report, only pre and post-treatment measures are reported (Crooke, Hendrix, & Rachman, 2008). c) The dependent variable in this study was to decrease the number of “unexpected” social behaviors and increase the number of “expected” behaviors based on three verbal and two non-verbal behavior categories. The “expected” categories were expected-verbal, initiation and listening with your eyes. The “unexpected” categories were unexpected-verbal and unexpected-nonverbal.      d) The intervention method used was based on “Thinking About What Others are Thinking About You” (Winner 2002, 2005). This is based on the premise that “Looking=Thinking: What one is looking at represents what that person is thinking about; Expected vs. Unexpected: Verbal and nonverbal actions have thought consequences; Whole body listening: Bodies and eyes are a part of listening and conversation; Social files: brains make social memories that give us a strategy for initiations; Knowledge and opinions: What to keep in and let out: Filtering verbal behavior (unexpected stays in your head & expected comes out) Influences the thoughts that others have about you,” (Crooke et al., 2008). e) In summary, initial impressions from these pre and post-treatment data indicate that the teaching of “Social Thinking” to children with autism spectrum disorders may be an effective way for increasing positive social behaviors and decreasing undesirable behaviors.      This model is a shift from traditional social skills interventions in that “Social Thinking” promotes understanding of “why” related social skills are relevant in social exchanges (Crooke et al., 2008).