Social Thinking

What is Social Thinking?

Social Thinking involves a child or young person being able to understand his or her own thoughts, emotions, beliefs, and social knowledge, whilst recognising and understanding the thoughts of the others in the social interaction and then, if necessary,  modify their social behaviour based on particular considerations.

To find more information on how to support the autistic student with their Emotional Regulation please click here

Why is it Important to Teach Social Thinking?

When a child or young person has been taught social thinking skills, he or she is better prepared and equipped for independent or spontaneous interactions, which can frequently cause difficulty and anxiety.

To find out more information on how to provide support to the autistic child who is experiencing anxiety please click here

Our social instinct helps us adjust to the expectations and interests of others, an area of difficulty for those with autism to accrue and demonstrate instinctively as many have difficulties with Theory of Mind.  To find out more information about Theory of Mind please click here 

Social Instinct

Social nuances, mores and skills are not innate to all people. Fortunately, for most, these are developed almost instinctively, yet for some, particularly those with autism, they must be learnt and taught.

To listen to Kari Dunn Buron discuss Autism as an “impairment, please click here.

Autism is an “impairment (sic) of social instinct” and is therefore an aspect that must be specifically and explicitly taught and learned, thus a credible concern as a social goal on Individual Education Plan if we are to recognise the holistic development of the child in our class. As advised by Brenda Myles it is important to teach explicitly what we have learned implicitly.

To listen to Brenda Myles discuss this please click here.

Social Skills Need to be Taught on a Continual Basis

As the child develops, so too should his or her social skills.

Ros Blackburn considers Autism as being a lack of Social Instinct. She asks, “How do we just know what is going on?”. 

It has nothing to do with cognitive prowess, she claims, but rather this difficulty means she is at a disadvantage trying to be fully involved in any social situation and she sees it as limiting. This may mean that we must teach how to attend even when you are not interested.

Teach the child or young person the social conventions. As children develop, they improve their means of conveying messages to others through:

• Complex combinations of joint attention
• Eye gaze
• Gestures
• Vocalisation
• Words, and sentences

• Strategies to Support Social Thinking
• Joint Attention
• Joint Social Attention, Inclusion and Peer Modelling