Social Thinking at school?I would really like our school to use Social Thinking by Marcia Garcia Winner to teach adaptive/social skills to my two fourth graders. They are in mainstream classrooms but go to the resource room for adaptive goals. I really disagree with just playing games all the time. They are way beyond talking about emotions and faces, taking turns, etc. I would like a meaningful curriculum appropriate for them to be used. But I am meeting with much resistance. I would also like all the teachers and therapists involved in their day to be familiar with the general terminology. Anyone have Social Thinking used at school? Did you need to convince the school? And if so, how did you do it? ___________________________ mom to 10 year old boy/girl twins (Asperger's/PDD-NOS)My 4th grader (Asperger's/PDD/NOS, depending on the wind) gets social thinking from MGW outside of school, I think that you are spot on about trying to get it into the school. But we have tried for four years now to get him an IEP so that this can happen. Short of a due process hearing we will not get the IEP and so cannot get any services involving instruction. (with a 504 plan, if the teacher is in a good mood she might follow some of what we can suggest.) In our case I think that this is due to equal doses of "Not Invented Here", fear over cost, and "If you get it then everyone will want one". I have noticed that everyone with similar services in this district has gotten them through the courts and all who are brave enough to talk to me have spoken of gag orders in the settlement. We are currently trying donating the books to the school and his teacher. The center is currently working on books in comic book format and we are trying to see if the books are an easy enough read that the teachers will want to learn more. We have hit huge resistance to trying to get them to do anything that was not their idea. IMHO you need to play the "dumb as a turnip" mom and show them the comic books and sort of hint that maybe they can explain them to you. My dd has been doing the superflex program through a private therapist (this is part of social thinking program) and it has been super. The therapist told me that one school in town is actually using it a 2nd grade class (mainstream) because the mom introduced the teacher to it and the teacher LOVED it. I am considering doing the same at dd's school but doubt that they will be that receptive. [QUOTE=mbmom] I am probably spinning my wheels talking to the teachers at the school level about this. Perhaps I would have to go to the school board to have it be an approved curriculum?? [/QUOTE] I would think that if you are getting teachers interested then you are probably doing good since this will impact students (yours included) directly. I know in our case the opposition qualifyung our son goes to the highest levels in the district's special ed. dept. They are sitting at the IEP table. There are some special ed parents in a near by city who have made waves by joining the school board and trying to get changes, but I do not know if that is doing anything. And it will take a long time IMHO. The other thing about getting teachers interested - possibly in the future they will wander up into management.... Thanks Dad2Luke&Alan. They don't know about the latest techniques, and don't want to admit that I might know something about my kids and this autism thing. We have recommendations from our private psychologist and private SLP (both experts in autism). But that does not seem to matter for most of the teachers (although some have shown great interest and want to learn about it). So even though we are fortunate enough to have adaptive/social in their IEPs, we are stuck with outdated methods from 10 or more years ago. We currently have to go the private route for effective social groups and Social Thinking curriculum. Also going to a private reading tutor for reading comprehension for a similar reason. I wonder if my kids usually meet their adaptive goals because of the school social skills instruction or because of our private instruction? Perhaps both, but in my mind the Social Thinking really works for them. I cannot use the argument that they don't meet their adaptive goals. I am probably spinning my wheels talking to the teachers at the school level about this. Perhaps I would have to go to the school board to have it be an approved curriculum?? __________________________ mom to 10 year old boy/girl twins (Asperger's/PDD-NOS) Had an IEP meeting this morning, and was VERY pleasantly suprised to hear the team talking about using Social Thinking (not only for my kids but for everyone). They were asking for the books and training courses. Funny thing was that I had not brought up the subject yet, but another teacher did (who I had previously talked to about it). Now it seems others on the team are on board. Hooray! ___________________________ mom to 10 year old boy/girl twins (Asperger's/PDD-NOS) That's awesome! [QUOTE=mbmom] Funny thing was that I had not brought up the subject yet, but another teacher did (who I had previously talked to about it). Now it seems others on the team are on board. Hooray! [/QUOTE] That's fantastic. Thanks for sharing. I think I need to work on the teachers some more, but so far we have hit only one teacher interested in learning about our son. Every one else has taken it personally when we suggest that SOP teaching is not completely appropriate for social cognitively delayed kids. I am fairly sure that MGW's book "Think Social" has some IEP goals listed in it that correlate to the curriculum. You might want to take a look there. Social Thinking is not specifically mentioned in my kids' IEP either. But we discussed using it as one of the methods to achieve their goals (e.g. improving flexibility). Not the only method though. Good luck. It has been slow going to get this implemented at school (over 2 years). They are not following the curriculum as of yet, but at are starting to used the terminology and behavioral mapping more. Also using the "social detective" concept. We have had Social Thinking at a private social skills group. They start out with a Social Thinking lesson (as a group) for the first half of the session, then break up into smaller groups to play for the second half. __________________________ mom to 10 year old boy/girl twins (Asperger's/PDD-NOS) I attended MGW SocialThinking conference in Dec. 2009 and without a doubt believe her curriculum should be used, especially when requested by parents. That being said, the school district my daughter attends in northern CA, is not making any effort to review or use the material, although I purchased all of the material for the school. At the IEP meeting, it was agreed the curriculum would be followed, but not specifically written into the IEP goals (the administrator being resistent because "it wasn't measurable!") Does anyone have experience with the curriculum and writing measurable IEP goals relative to SocialThinking? My daughter was diagnosed 6 months ago at age 11, even though I'd gone round and round with the schools "that I thought something wasn't right." I was met with grave resistent because my daughter has a smile on her face, regardless of the emotion she is feeling, is extremely quiet and doesn't ask any questions (though she is very verbal). After having her privately evaluated, my "gutt" feelings were correct, though I didn't know her learning disabilities were specifically ASD. Would love any recommendations and/or suggestions. Thanks. |
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