This four-part series introduces interventionists (professionals and parents) to the many important facets of development that underlie social emotional learning in preschool- and early elementary-age students, clients, and patients. What looks like pure fun to us has important social learning consequences for the developing mind. The ability to participate in collaborative play and learn as part of a group depends upon flexible thinking, social language, self-regulation, and solid social emotional development, as well as the executive functioning skills to manage all of these simultaneously. Educational standards highlight the importance of classroom listening and collaboration, which are hallmarks of developmental learning in preschool and early elementary years. In this this series, we share key information and innovative practices for helping early learners with average to strong language and learning abilities develop critical social competencies, including:

• A research perspective on social emotional learning and executive functioning/self-regulation—and their interactive impact on socio-communicative abilities—and how to put the research and best practices of teaching social information into action
• Five Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts that have been adapted for children ages 4-7: thoughts and feelings, the group plan, thinking with your eyes, body in the group, and whole body listening (listening with brain and body)
  
• Methods to teach these concepts through storybooks, music, structured activities, and play
• A variety of strategies to use in the classroom, online learning environment, home, or clinic.

Part 2: Building on Foundations—Teaching Thinking with Eyes, Body in the Group, and Whole Body (Listening with Body and Brain) expands on the foundations and key researched components of social-cognitive development introduced in Part 1 as they connect to the core Social Thinking® concepts taught through our curriculum.  These core concepts support the ability to gather information about what is happening in your environment, what others are thinking and how they are feeling (perspective taking), and what the plan of the group might be. We break down the steps to thinking with your eyes, exploring physical presence, and helping your brain to be available to information around you through however you listen best. This all sets the stage for successful communication and interaction. This course puts the research into practice to support learning about the social world and how we work within it. And we answer some frequently asked questions about how to expand the teaching to your own bookshelf and materials, as well as how we take data to measure learning outcomes.

Course Content Disclosure: While this course includes information about other products and the work of other authors, it primarily focuses on the content included in the We Thinkers! Volume 1: Social Explorers curriculum guide and 5 storybooks to teach this information with fidelity.

If you began your learning about this topic and series with this course, please watch Part 1: Foundations for Early Learners—Teaching Thoughts, Feelings, and The Group Plan of the series to learn background information and sequential lessons that must be taught prior to jumping to the lessons in Part 2.

Who Should Attend

The Social Thinking Methodology is used by a wide variety of professionals; including speech-language pathologists, special and general education teachers, social workers, counselors, clinical and school psychologists, occupational therapists, behavior specialists, and school administrators to name a few. It’s also used by family members and caregivers across settings.

This four-part series teaches interventionists (parents and professionals) to implement with fidelity our award-winning curriculum, storybooks, and music collection when using We Thinkers! Volume 1: Social Explorers and We Thinkers! Volume 2: Social Problem Solvers (formerly The Incredible Flexible You!).

Using examples, multi-sensory lessons, and strategies to promote social collaboration and play at school, home, and in the community, we’ll explore social development and demonstrate how to teach 10 core Social Thinking® concepts and use the storybooks to help students learn how the social world works, so they can better learn to navigate in the social world. We’ll also review the use of the Group Collaboration, Play and Problem-Solving (GPS) Scale to provide individualized pathways for different types of social learners. The vocabulary and strategies are adaptable for use with other activities and age-appropriate literature.

The series includes four courses preferably experienced in the following order, beginning with Volume 1 in our two-volume We Thinkers! curricular set:

Part 1: Foundations for Early Learners—Teaching Thoughts, Feelings, and The Group Plan
Part 2: Building on Foundations—Teaching Thinking with Eyes, Body in the Group, and Whole Body Listening (Listening with Body and Brain)

The next two courses provide information on the GPS assessment tool, as well as five executive function concepts:

Part 3: Assessing Peer-Based Collaboration and Play to Provide Specific Teaching Pathways
Part 4: Advancing Social Learning with Five Concepts to Promote Executive Functions

Throughout this series, you will learn not just the “why” behind the concepts we teach but the “how” with practical strategies and examples that you can start infusing into the things you already do and say.

Series Content Disclosure: While this series includes information about other products and the work of other authors, it primarily focuses on the content included in the We Thinkers! Volume 1: Social Explorers and We Thinkers! Volume 2: Social Problem Solvers curriculum guides and 10 storybooks to teach this information with fidelity.

Objectives

Participants will be able to:

1. Identify key milestones that support social attention and observation.
2. Describe two ways to structure learning experiences in preschool and early elementary settings to promote social emotional learning.
3. Describe at least three ways to teach Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts to students ages 4–7.
4. Explain the role of descriptive praise in supporting resilience.

Agenda

• 1 hour and 20 minutes
  • Social Thinking Vocabulary
  • Practical strategies for teaching these social concepts through storybooks, music, structured activities, and play
• 2 hours and 10 minutes
  • Continue to explore core social concepts
  • Explore frequently asked questions about implementing the Social Thinking Methodology for early learners
  • Bringing it all together: using Social Thinking Vocabulary as a means of giving effective feedback
  • Previously Recorded Q & A Session

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• Speech-Language Pathologists
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• ...and others!

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