"Social thinking is the connection of two brains in a symphony..."
- Faye Evans -
What will my child learn with Social Thinking Programs?
Children will develop social competence, and achieve the foundational blocks to develop their social brain through:
Why do we use Social thinking?
Because it keeps us connected to others, helps us share space effectively, think flexibly and act collaboratively
– Nancy Tarshis. 
At EG Psychology Family Clinic, we have been part of that journey providing assistance with interventions based on upskilling kids socially. Furthermore, being trained and reading the latest literature on Social thinking programs in the past three years and how working on Social Thinking Programs provide better outcomes and lasting improvements.
Emotional Growth, is offering group and individual interventions based on The Social Thinking Curriculum developed by Michelle Garcia.
As Social Thinking is the umbrella term that extends children development based not only on behavioural skills but expanding their thinking capacity with a focus on developing their understanding on themselves and being able to transfer this onto understanding others.
For further reading:
What is the social mind?
Research from neuroscience have interwoven the interdependence between mental and behavioural studies to explain how people relate to each-other and how they form mental representations about members of their social groups helping them understand the social world that surrounds them and plan and execute adequately plans through their interactions.
What is Social Thinking & why teach Social Thinking over Social Skills?
Interpersonal neurobiology bridges the gap between biology and social sciences. We are wired for connection and as humans we are born predisposed to engage with others with our social brain. The development of the brain happens only in relationships and there is a bidirectional causality between the growth and shaping of neural networks and the social experiences.
As observed social skills are just a part of the larger process, an important component of the social mind. Social skills are made up of a series of behaviours that are known and used in social situations, however having solely social skills such as a repertoire of behaviours rehearsed and well intentioned does not reflect the relevance of the social brain.
Social thinking is the internal overall process that helps through diverse executive functions of the brain to analyse, describe and categorise the different social contexts. This helps us to adjust accordingly to select which social skills are required to respond to the situation while considering how the behaviours may affect the people involved in a specific situation.
Constantly teachers, parents, members of the community focus on the child’s behaviour and these children that may either show a low and/or overactive social profile are tagged specifically and send for interventions to improve their “social skills”.
How does Social Thinking develop?
A child evolves through interaction with others in the immediacy of their family, school and community and gradually learns values, beliefs and skills that help him or her to immerse themselves in their cultural environment. Through these relationship, they learn how to respond effectively to the social expectations and develop a sense of self.
For further reading:
www.kidsmatter.edu.au
Term 2 - 2019