Information

Social Thinking®

Funshine Speech Therapy uses vocabulary, materials, and methods from the Social Thinking® curriculum created by Michelle Garcia Winner, a speech-language pathologist who specializes in social cognitive development. The framework helps individuals with social learning challenges become better social thinkers.

What is Social Thinking?

Social thinking is what we do whenever we share space with others — in a classroom, at the grocery store, during a conversation, or even while reading fiction. It involves reading context, understanding others' intentions and emotions, and adjusting our own behavior in response. For most people this process develops naturally; for many individuals with social learning challenges, it needs to be explicitly taught.

Key concepts at a glance

• Social thinking begins developing from birth — joint attention is one of its earliest milestones.
• Effective peer play in early childhood builds the foundation for classroom learning and conversation.
• Children with social learning challenges need explicit, cognitive instruction — not just modeled behavior.
• Social Thinking strategies are designed for individuals with average to above-average verbal IQ.
• Core concepts include perspective-taking, reading the room, and understanding how our behavior affects others' thoughts and feelings.
• Social thinking is relevant throughout life — in friendships, workplaces, and community settings.
• Individuals who learn how to think socially can generalize that skill to new environments — unlike those who only learn specific social behaviors.
• Social learning challenges frequently co-occur with anxiety, depression, and OCD; treatment often addresses these connections.

To learn more, visit socialthinking.com ↗