Social Thinking Group - Activity Planning Suggestions

Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Myf2CUx9E60 “All About Social Skills for Kids!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLm2BuW73m4 “Social Skills Video: Think it Or Say it”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWCmOsxcHEg “Staying Calm When I’m Angry”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMYOQkUkATQ&list=PLVZh-3ewCElIPxjUynwfYoAt5vsG-t-
gY&index=5 “Handling Conflicts with Friends”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNtgqKAiYzk&list=PLVZh-3ewCElIPxjUynwfYoAt5vsG-t-
gY&index=12 “Reading Facial Expressions Introduction”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGNIgQkfE_0 “Taking a Break When You Need it”

Some takeaways from: https://www.socialthinking.com/Articles?name=dos-and-donts-for-

working-with-students
- Start with individuals acknowledging thoughts and feelings of themselves and others.
This was taught during the group sessions in July.

- Recognize situational context- why it is occurring, appropriate reactions, and actions to

the situation. Self- monitoring their behaviour. Identify weaknesses and strengths
within oneself, and celebrate strengths.

- Social expectations of behaviour- expected and unexpected reactions.

- Provide comfort that everyone has areas for improvement, and explain it takes work at
learning.

- Awareness of surroundings- context, emotions, words, body language

- Role-play skills with each other. Encourage self-monitoring, and give good feedback
(two positive comments to one negative). Encourage discussion, peer-feedback, and
self-feedback. Guide students to coach each other.

- Teaching the importance of social relationships and their value.

- Break down the content so the individuals can find something they relate with to build
their own pathway.

- Celebrate little achievements and be patient with individuals. Listen and be

understanding to their perspectives/ experiences.
Activities:
Heart Activity- The impact of our words:

Idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkAfgog9USU

Book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0Ikt3g0Ph8

- Hearts cut out with construction paper (leave one heart to the side)
- Book: Chrysanthemum
- While reading the book, each time something negative is said to the main character,
individuals will crumple up their heart. When her parents are being supportive,
individuals try and flatten the heart out. At the end, try and tape up the hearts and fix
them as much as possible. Hold up wrinkled heart, then the plain heart and notice the
difference between them.
- The lesson is to show that as much as we can try our best to fix it, our words still have an
impact on each other

Social Context Detective:

Idea: https://www.merakilane.com/social-thinking-activities-for-kids-14-
ideas-to-teach-whole-body-thinking/

• I think we could create this instead of buying it!

- Create 5-10 short stories and have the individuals guess which social
context clues they may contain.
- This supports the practice of interpreting social cues by breaking it down.

Think It or Say It: Social Filter Activity:

Idea: https://www.merakilane.com/social-thinking-activities-for-kids-14-ideas-
to-teach-whole-body-thinking/

• I think we could create this one as well!

- Write down about 10-15 social thoughts to go through. Individuals must
determine if the thought is socially appropriate to say aloud or if it is to be
kept to themselves instead.
 Emotion Charades:

Idea: https://www.positiveaction.net/blog/social-skills-activities-and-
games-for-kids

- Write different emotions on strips of paper. Individuals will pick

one discreetly, and act out that emotion. The other participants will
guess what emotion is being acted by reading facial and body
expressions.
- By acting out the expressions, they learn what to look for in
others and themselves when reading emotions. This can help when
confronted with conflict in social situations.

Flexible Thinking:

Idea: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Flexible-
Thinking-Social-Skills-Story-and-Activities-for-3rd-5th-Grade-
1158922?st=d29b315b20c0faba0b2675c72c21599d

- Create straight forward stories where you can see where,

when and why you need to be flexible. Build on that to create
an activity where the individual can recognize what they can do
to be flexible and think flexibly.
- This activity supports social thinking as it teaches an
important skill needed to take on stuck thinking.

Problems in a Jar:

Idea: https://www.werockthespectrumkidsgym.com/social-skills-
activities-that-teach-kids-problem-solving/

- Write down different situations that happen in the real

world with input from participants own experiences. Fold and
place all the pieces of paper in a jar. Have participants pick one
from jar, and read out loud. Have the participant come up with
their best solution to the problem independently or
collaboratively.
- This supports the participants in learning social problem-
solving in situations they face in their daily lives.
https://www.socialthinking.com/what-is-social-thinking/for-interventionists

When looking at the social thinking methodology in comparison to my group session activity
ideas, I thought out how each skill learned contributes to helping individuals have more
appropriate social responses.

These are some of my rough ideas on what I read/saw.

Social Attention: Being aware of oneself and others words and actions by paying attention to
facial cues, body language, tone, etc.
Games: Emotion charades, think it or say it

Social Interpretation: Having the ability to interpret the facial cues, body language, social cues,
context of situation, etc.
Games: Social context detective, heart activity

Problem-Solving: Being able to act rather than react to a situation by using their tools to solve
the problem. E.x. taking turns using a swing
Games: Problems in a jar, flexible thinking