{Review} Social Thinking: You Are A Social Detective!

Graphics: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lovin-Lit

Disclaimer: Amazon Affiliate links are included for your convenience. Products were provided to me at no cost; however, the opinions are my own.

When I was contacted and asked to become part of the Social Thinking Blogging Team, I had to pick my jaw up off the floor! I've heard wonderful things about these products from fellow bloggers, but only have experience from using a game geared towards adolescents called Should I Or Shouldn't I?  

I was sent a few products to try and will be providing reviews as I introduce them. I'm choosing a couple of the kids I think it will work well with, as well as parts of the programs that I was provided. The first product that I introduced to was "You Are A Social Detective!" This comic book introduces "social thinking" to kids in an engaging way. I love that there are pictures and words to explain. I also really like that the pages are not too visually distracting. It took a few sessions to get through the book, because as I introduced each page, we sometimes talked about the concepts. I wanted to make sure the kids had a good handle on the concepts prior to moving on because I know these terms are used in other Michelle Garcia Winner products. 

The beginning of the book talks about the different kinds of "smarts" we have. I used a brain picture to write down the kinds of smarts I think I have and then had the students fill out what they felt their smarts were. We talked about the expectations of being in school and made a list to reference later on.

Part of this book describes what your eyes and ears do when you're using your "social smarts." I pulled out the sticky notes and (badly) drew eyes and ears to place on these pages, because I think it's a really important part of the program. Social thinking is more than just being able to act appropriately in social situations. It's really about teaching kids that they can use their senses to determine "expected" vs. "unexpected" behaviors.

I think some of my students have a fairly good grasp on what is appropriate vs. inappropriate when I ask them; however, I think they struggle when they are "in the moment." We talked about what detectives do because I think it helped my students connect meaning with the concepts. I do think we'll have to spend multiple sessions on these concepts in order to really make it stick. 

I am looking forward to introducing other Social Thinking concepts to my students. If you are interested in learning more, you can visit Michelle Garcia Winner's website HERE. I'll be continuing to post reviews as I move along with the program. Have you tried it? What do you like?