Superflex©A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum

by Michelle Garcia Winner and Stephanie MadrigalPresented by:

Susannah S. Vitaglione

Social thinking… a survival skill !

• https://youtu.be/w4JC7L95JDE

• https://youtu.be/t_Y3ueji6NY

What’s the difference between teaching Social Skills and teaching Social

Thinking? Why is it important?

Social Skills vs. Social Thinking• Social skills are defined as a set of skills people use to

interact and communicate with one another. Social rules are created, communicated and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways.

• Social Thinking is a way to train your brain to help you figure out the people around you- what they may be thinking, how that compares to what you’re thinking, and how to vary your actions based on what you and other people are thinking. Social Thinking is social cognition.

-Michelle Garcia Winner

Being a social thinker helps you understand and use social skills.

• Social Thinking © is required prior to the development of social skills. Social Thinking helps you learn the points of views, emotions, beliefs, prior knowledge and intentions of others.

www.socialthinking.com

Assumptions about students’ Social Thinking abilities upon entering school:

• We assume that students will:– Know others have different thoughts than theirs.– Know they can learn by watching others.– Know what nonverbal communication to look for.– Know to attend to the teacher for information. – Know how to use social thinking skills to regulate

their behavior in a group. – Know how to communicate and navigate friendships.

Why is this important for all kids?COMMON CORE

4 Anchor Standards • Reading• Writing • Language • Speaking and Listening.

These anchor standards require knowledge/skills that are grounded in social learning areas such as :– critical thinking– perspective taking– narrative language– Inferences – organizational skills

Teaching Social Thinking

Address the areas of deficits with teaching skills required.

• Stories, skills and strategies

Provide concepts in a child friendly framework that encourages active participation.

• Superheroes and Unthinkables

Superflex CurriculumDeveloped to help :

• students understand the concept of flexible thinking by Michelle Garcia Winner and Stephanie Madrigal.

• students with social cognitive challenges (often ASD, Asperger’s, ADD, ADHD, non-verbal learning disabilities) but applicable to all kids! (Grades K-5)

• students become more aware of their behavior and take steps towards self-regulation.

• introduce the idea of behaviors getting in the way and causing problems (without naming and pointing out specific students).

• make social thinking kid-friendly and fun.

Who is Superflex?

• A superhero who helps students develop strategies to defeat the “Team of Unthinkables”.

• The “Team of Unthinkables” keeps the brain rigid and makes it difficult for students to become flexible thinkers.

• Superflex helps us become friendly, flexible thinkers.

Team of Unthinkables

D.O.F vs. I.O.F

Who would you rather be with when you are playing a game? D.O.F (Destroyer of Fun) makes you forget that it’s only a game. He wants you to focus on winning, being first or playing it your way. When you act like a D.O.F. it ruins the game for everyone else playing it. Remember I.O.F. – stay positive! Remember how much fun you can have by playing fair and cooperating. Winning isn’t everything and losing certainly isn’t a LEVEL 5 problem! Practice being I.O.F. with your friends or family this week. How many times can you be the I.O.F.? Play a game and strike out the balls when you act like an I.O.F.

StoriesSuperflex Stories: Julia Cook Stories:

Others:

Expected vs. Unexpected Behaviors

• We have them for all settings• Not the same for all settings• When we exhibit expected behaviors people have

“good thoughts” about us• When we exhibit unexpected behaviors people

have “weird thoughts” about us• These thoughts impact the way

others treat usMichelle Garcia Winner

Easy Ideas for Whole Class• Red, Yellow, Green thoughts

Thinking and Saying Thoughts

No

Okay

Caution

Green thoughts are good thoughts. These are thoughts that you can think in your head and say without offending someone.

Yellow thoughts are caution thoughts. These are thoughts that you can think in your head but use caution when you say them. These are thoughts that are okay to say to some people but not okay to say to other people.

Red thoughts are thoughts that you should not say out loud. These are thoughts you can think in your head but not say. Red thoughts usually offend people when you say them out loud.

5 POINT SCALE by Kerri Dunn Buron

1. Need to have concept that can be broken into 5 parts.

2. Use a story/social story to teach the 5 parts of the concept.

- can be positive or negative3. Create a scale

www.5pointscale.com

REFERENCES and RESOURCES• Winner, M.G., (2007). Thinking About You Thinking About Me. Think Social Publications, San Jose, CA. Available on her

website at : www.socialthinking.com • Winner, Michelle G. (2005). Think Social!,A Social-Thinking Curriculum for School Age Students. Think Social Publications• Winner, Michelle G. & Crooke, Pamela. (2009) Socially Curious and Curiously Social: A Social Thinking Guidebook for Teens

& Young Adults with Asperger’s, ADHD, PDD-NOS, NVLD, or other Murky Undiagnosed Social Learning Issues. Think Social Publications, San Jose, CA.

• Winner, Michelle G. & Crooke, Pamela. (2009) You are a Social Detective! Think Social Publications, San Jose, CA. • Madrigal, Stephanie & Winner, Michelle G. (2008). Superflex: A SuperHero Social Thinking Package. Think Social

Publications, San Jose, CA. • Dunn-Buron, Kari & Curtis, Mitzi. The Incredible 5 Point Scale. Autism Asperger Publishing Company (AAPC).

• Alexander no good day unit http://www.franklincollege.edu/pwp/cmahaffey/LitUnit.pdf• Cloudy with a chance of meatballs http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/SCORE/Cloudy/cloudytg.htm• Michelle Garcia Winner’s website: www.socialthinking.com• Social Thinking Materials & Resources by Jill Kuzma http://jillkuzma.wordpress.com/• Circle or Lunch Bunch Groups- http://www.sbceo.k12.ca.us/~impact2/pdf/pkts2006/Lions%20Lunch%20Bunch.pdf• http://meesterc.wordpress.com/social-thinking-skills/• www.juliacookonline.com