Social Thinking Vocabulary – concepts at the heart of Social Thinking

At the heart of the Social Thinking Methodology is their vocabulary. It’s a way of translating complex social concepts into a simpler form that can be taught and used as a common language to talk about what it means to “be social” across people, cultures, and context. Social Thinking Vocabulary encourages individuals to actively notice what’s happening around them. The language can be used whenever and wherever needed to talk about social expectations and interpretations: working as a group during a math lesson, dinnertime at home, hanging out with friends on the playground, participating as members of a team during P.E., etc. The concepts are expressed in simple language to make these abstract ideas easier to understand and motivate individuals to integrate them into their daily experiences as they participate in the social world.

The 10 Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts:

1. Thoughts and Feelings

2. Thinking with Your Eyes

3. The Group Plan

4. Body in the Group

5. Whole Body Listening

6. Hidden Rules & Expected and Unexpected Behaviors

7. Smart Guess

8. Flexible and Stuck Thinking

9. Size of the Problem

10. Sharing an Imagination 

Learn about each of the social thinking concepts by viewing the presentation below.