The Social Thinking Methodology
A guiding resource for people worldwide for 25+ years
Social, Organizational, and Academic Learning Across the Ages
The teachings of the Social Thinking Methodology help people understand themselves and others to better navigate the social world, foster relationship development, and improve performance at school, at home, and at work. Our unique tools break down complex social executive functioning concepts (like perspective taking) into understandable and doable parts that can be applied across settings. For more than 25 years, our experts have been a guiding resource for schools, clinics, individuals, and families around the world, and our teachings continually evolve based on the latest research, clinical insights, and input from the community. Whether you're supporting the goals of individuals with a diagnosis (ADHD, social communication differences, social anxiety, autism levels 1 and 2) or with no diagnosis but unmet social goals—our strategies can help you help them.
We stand committed to providing quality, practical information that is rooted in research, built upon real-world experiences, and is responsive to the needs of the people for whom it is designed to support. We are constantly learning and gaining inspiration from our clients and others we meet, so our work is ever-evolving yet remains grounded in its adherence to rigorous standards of quality.
Social Thinking (Think Social Publishing, Inc.) publishes its own educational products, gives conferences around the world, offers online training courses, and provides a large library of free articles and webinars on our website. Our award-winning curricula have been implemented in specialized and mainstream classrooms, schoolwide, districtwide, in homes, and clinics around the world.
What is Social Thinking?
Develop Social Competencies
The Social Thinking Methodology provides evidence-based strategies to help people ages four throughout adulthood develop their social competencies, flexible thinking, and social problem solving to meet their own social goals and improve:
- Conversation & social connection
- Executive functioning
- Friendship & relationship development
- Perspective taking
- Self-regulation
- Social Thinking Vocabulary
Who We Help
The Social Thinking Methodology is designed for individuals ages four through adult with solid language, cognitive, and learning abilities. Our work is for individuals with social learning differences and/or challenges, whether neurotypical or neurodivergent (ADHD, social communication learning differences, social anxiety, twice exceptional, autism levels 1 and 2). Our work has been adopted into mainstream classrooms and districts around the world to improve social, emotional, and academic learning for all.
Our strategies are taught by a wide variety of people, including educators, clinicians, families, caregivers, college students, etc. Professionals who use our work include speech-language pathologists, special and general education teachers, social workers, counselors, clinical and school psychologists, occupational therapists, behavior specialists, school administrators, paraprofessionals, marriage and family therapists, and medical professionals, to name a few.
Social Thinking is Academic Thinking
Academics Are Rooted in Social Thinking
How is the Social Thinking Methodology different from every other social and emotional learning program?
Lessons, strategies, curricula, and tools can cross all three tiers of support
It is designed to complement and embed into academic lessons
It is accessible to general education and special education
It uses visual supports and consistent vocabulary to make abstract social ideas clear and concrete
It avoids assumptions that all learners will learn in the same way
Social thinking is our meaning maker
Social thinking is the process by which we interpret the thoughts, beliefs, intentions, emotions, knowledge, and actions of another person along with the context of the situation to understand that person’s experience. If we are engaging or sharing space with another person, we use this information to determine how to respond to affect the thoughts that person has about us to achieve our social goals (such as being friendly to maintain a friendship, acting generous to impress a date, and seeming unfriendly to deflect attention when walking alone late at night, etc.). Social thinking is our meaning maker—it allows us to interpret the deeper meaning behind what others do in the world, and (if the situation calls for it) prompts us with how to respond. A person’s social thinking strength has a considerable effect on their relationships and success in school and at work. It affects the person’s social skills, perspective taking, self-awareness, self-regulation, critical thinking, social problem solving, play skills, reading comprehension, written expression, ability to learn and work in a group, organizational skills, etc.
The Social Thinking®–Social Competency Model (ST-SCM)
The goal of the Social Thinking® Methodology (STM) is to break down abstract social, organizational, emotional, and academic concepts to explain them in a more practical and understandable way. The Social Thinking Methodology was introduced in the mid-1990s but continues to be informed by the latest evidence, community input, and clinical expertise. The focus of the STM is to understand and teach social competencies as a means to meet one's unique social goals. This is very different from teaching rote social skills. As a way to help us understand the complex process of social information processing (Crick and Dodge, 1994; Beauchamp and Anderson, 2010), we developed the Social Thinking®–Social Competency Model (ST–SCM).
Developers of the Social Thinking Methodology
Michelle Garcia Winner & Dr. Pamela Crooke
Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, is the founder of Social Thinking®, CEO of Think Social Publishing, Inc., and a globally recognized thought leader, author, speaker, and social-cognitive therapist. Over her 35+ -year career, she has developed the Social Thinking Methodology, along with Dr. Pamela Crooke, which provides evidence-based strategies and curricula to help individuals of all ages develop social competencies by deeply connecting social, emotional, and cognitive development. Michelle's work emphasizes the impact of social competencies on relationships, academic performance, and career success.
Pamela Crooke, PhD, CCC-SLP, is Chief Operations Officer and Head of Training, Curriculum, and Research at Think Social Publishing, Inc. She served as a clinical faculty member of three universities and worked as a speech-language pathologist in the Arizona public schools for 15 years. Pam is a prolific speaker both in North America and abroad and has co-authored eight award-winning books related to Social Thinking with Michelle Garcia Winner, in addition to co-developing the Social Thinking Methodology.
Michelle Garcia Winner and Dr. Pamela Crooke continuously update the Social Thinking Methodology based on the latest research, input from the community, and insights and evidence from clinical practice.
Social Thinking Deeply Connects Social, Emotional & Academic Learning
The Social Thinking Methodology has been a guiding resource for schools, clinics, individuals, and families around the world for more than 25 years. Our resources are developed by experts in speech and language (SLPs) specializing in social cognition and dedicated to helping people of all ages reach their social goals. Instead of focusing on mastering social skills, we teach social competencies for lifelong learning, so individuals can make progress toward their self-determined goals.
Teachers, speech-language pathologists, counselors, caregivers, and therapists just like you have used our evidence-based lessons & strategies to teach people how to improve their social competencies, flexible thinking, and social problem solving through: conversation & social connection, executive functioning, friendship & relationship development, perspective taking, self-regulation, and Social Thinking Vocabulary.
Social Thinking resources deeply connect social, emotional, and academic learning for a lifetime of well-being. Our materials are helpful for students in mainstream and specialized education—they can be used in schools as part of Tiers 1, 2, and 3 support. Explore our broad range of resources by developmental age below.
Award-Winning Resources by Developmental Age
