Visual Social Thinking Techniques: How to Leverage the Visual

Thinker’s Strengths

Presented by: Stephanie BrownAdmissions Coordinator, College Internship

ProgramsMmcmanmon@cipworldwide.org

sbrown@cipbrevard.org

The Many Applications of Visual Social Thinking

• Mark Twain’s Visual Note Taking system (1899)• Visual notes using 16 grid paper (Start NOW)• Carol Gray’s comic book conversations• Oliver West introduction to Footnotes • How to leverage Visual Thinkers strengths – Visual Thinking/ Executive Functioning

Mark Twain’s Visual Note Taking

• Dates are hard to remember because they consist of figures:

• Figures are monotonously unstriking in appearance, and they don’t take hold; pictures can make dates stick.

• They can make anything stick- particularly if you make the pictures yourself.

• Mark Twain 1899

The Visualization Process • The idea of using pictures for my lecture occurred to me.• In two minutes I made six pictures with a pen, and they

did the work of the many catch-sentences.

• I threw the pictures away as soon as they were made, for I was sure I could shut my eyes and see them any time.

• That was a 25 years ago; the lecture vanished out of my head but years later I could rewrite it from the pictures in my memory.

Paraphrased from Mark Twain

Mark Twain’s Explanations of Visual Drawings

• The first one is a haystack--below it a rattlesnake--and it told me where to begin to talk about ranch-life in Carson Valley.

• The second one told me where to begin the talk about a strange and violent wind that used to burst upon Carson City from the Sierra Nevadas every afternoon at two o'clock.

• The third picture, as you easily perceive, is lightning; its duty was to remind me when it was time to begin to talk about San Francisco weather, where there is no lightning--nor thunder, either.

Carol Gray’s Comic Strip Conversation

• Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have trouble interpreting social situations and understanding speech as quickly as most social interactions require.

• A comic strip conversation is a conversation between two or more people using simple illustrations in a comic strip format.

• Using a child’s favorite cartoon character you can show children how to behave in a socially acceptable manner and conform to social standards.

• Jimmy reacts inappropriately when people in his environment use a loud voice.

• He created this comic strip conversation using characters from his favorite TV show to provide him with the appropriate response of "Ouch, that hurts my ears. Don't talk so loud, okay?" instead of Jimmy hitting the loud person in his environment.

Carol Gray comic strip conversations

Executive Functioning and Visual Thinking

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