Social Thinking

This is a phrase I hear almost everyday, but that may be foreign to most.

Our culture is very social. There are social rules that make up our society. Part of having Austism is when that person's brain does not make the same social connections as a person who is "neurotypical".

This week I'm going to a Social Thinking conference. It is so weird to think of our culture in that way. Things like, "You have to start as a nobody to become a somebody" when teaching someone how to join a group that already as several members. She expounds upon this saying things like "You cannot join a group instantly talking, you have to look at the group and gradually focus your eyes to their faces. Then you have to wait for two people to talk before you can talk."

Who knew about these rules? Can you imagine having Autism, being thrown into a situation where you didn't know the social rules? Of course, most of us don't have that problem because our brain makes social connections easily. No wonder some of my kiddos don't know how to make friends.

I think it is amazing that our presenter, Michelle Garia Winner, can break down these "unspoken" social rules everyone is expected to understand in a way that we can teach them to our kids. Yay!