Social Thinking Groups

What is Social Thinking?

Our innate ability to think through and apply information to succeed in situations that require social knowledge. Social thinking is a form of intelligence that is key to learning concepts and integrating information across a variety of settings; academic, social, home and community. Limited abilities for learning and/or applying socially relevant information can be considered a social thinking learning disability.  Michelle Garcia Winner coined the term as a treatment program for students to assist them with their social learning. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (particularly high-functioning autism and Asperger Syndrome) ADHD, nonverbal learning disorder and similar challenges have benefited greatly from this treatment approach over ten years.  Michelle Garcia Winner is an internationally recognized specialist, and the social thinking work that she has pioneered is internationally recognized and implemented.  For more information on the SOCIAL THINKING APPROACH please go to: www.socialthinking.com and read about Michelle’s philosophy.

 

Social Thinking Therapy Services

• Students learn social thinking and related skills in a small group (2-5 students depending on the student’s needs) or large group.
• Social thinking is designed for individuals with near normal to above normal cognition who struggle with understanding and processing the social world.
• Our sessions include a strong parent component. Parents are educated on the concepts and strategies to help support their students in carrying the new concepts across their home and school day.
• Parents gain a better understanding of how social thinking challenges impact academics (such as reading comprehension, organization, etc.), and strategies for increased academic success.
• Social Thinking, pioneered by Michelle Garcia Winner, is an internationally recognized and applied approach to working with individuals with social cognitive deficits (such as High Functioning Autism, Asperger’s Syndrome, PDD- NOS, Non-verbal Learning Disability (NVLD), ADD/ADHD and others who struggle with the social world but do not have a formal diagnosis).

 

Therapy Service Details

Enrollment in Social Thinking Groups: We group students with peers that function similarly to your child in their cognitive, social, language and auditory processing abilities.  We accept students from all over the Greater Vancouver Area, and it is a difficult task to group students with others that are similar to them. To help with the grouping process, please provide as many possible times and days to allow the most options when scheduling.  Also, please indicate which location (Surrey and West Vancouver,) you are able to access.  As your availability increases, so do the chances of finding a group that fits your needs.

 

Attendance Policy for Groups and Individual sessions

Group work is dependent upon all group members attending as many sessions as possible. Due to this, we have a strict attendance policy. Children are allowed to have two absences during the year, however, further absences will be billed for the full cost of the group.

Groups run from September through Mid-June, if you need to discontinue sessions for any reason, we ask for a two-week notification so that we can try to find a replacement group member. Our clinic closes for two weeks for the winter holiday and for stat holidays.

 

Parent Education

Parents are expected to attend the last 15 minutes of each therapy session to explore with the therapist the new ideas learned during the session.  The student’s growth depends on all adults living and working with him/her to learn along with the students these new concepts and then encourage growth in these areas across the day.

 

Group Leaders

Depending on which group you are placed in groups are run by either Jenny Sojat, SLP; Brianna Rosenberg, SLP; Haley Adair, SLP, Emily Jurgens, SLP, or Sujin Lim, SLP.

 

Cost:

• Group sessions: 115.00 per hour
• Report writing: 160.00 per hour
• Phone calls exceeding 10 minutes will be charged at a rate of $30 every 15 minutes

*Payment is due at the end of each month. Those using Autism Funding are asked to please have forms submitted prior to the start of therapy.