As I mentioned on my welcome page, one of the foundations of my practice is working with individuals and families to establish "safety" in their systems.  This affects many areas, but none probably more than social cognition/communication.  My Polyvagal Theory Page has a number of resources about this subject, but to summarize here, when we feel safe, we are open to socially engage with others.  We are receptive to their social cues, so we are able to learn skills and concepts that we may not have learned before.  But, if we are anxious or feeling stressed (in other words, if our system is in a neuroceptive state of danger or life threat), then we won't express or use the social cognitive or communication skills that we may have been taught, no matter how significant the evidence-base is for that training and/or how beneficial that social cognition or communication skill is to the person.  In my experience, only when we are safe will we be in a state of social engagement where we are able to take in, store, and express socially competent skills.  This has been, for many, the missing link for learning, generalization, and carryover of skills.  Safety can be facilitated in a number of ways, including: I start here with many, if not most, of my clients as this foundational level needs to be in place for social cognition, social communication, and social skills to be learned, remembered over time, and expressed in a natural, synchronous way during meaningful social interactions.  

It has always nagged me that there has been something missing from this page related both to my practice and that truly rounds out how I approach social competency/thinking and relationships.  As I finally sat down and thought about it, it occurred to me that it was the areas of Interpersonal Neurobiology and Play.  

Interpersonal Neurobiology ​
Play
Online Social Cognition/Skills Lessons: ​
Resources: ​
Assessments:​ Social Thinking: (Michelle Garcia Winner products at www.socialthinking.com, can also been found on amazon.com)
  • Superflex Curriculum
  • ​Social Town Citizens Discover 82 New Unthinkables for Superflex to Outsmart
  • Superflex:  My Hero Inside Music CD
  • Superflex Superdecks
  • Superflex:  A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum
  • Superflex Takes on Brain Eater and the Team of Unthinkables
  • Superflex Takes on Glassman and the Team of Unthinkables
  • Superflex Takes on One-Sided Sid, Un-Wonderer and the Team of Unthinkables

Other
  • Good Intentions are Not Good Enough
  • I Get It!  Building Social Thinking and Reading Comprehension Through Book Chats
  • Inside Out
  • Movie Time Social Learning
  • Should I? or Shouldn't I? Elementary Edition
  • Should I? or Shouldn't I?  High School Edition
  • Social Behavior Mapping
  • Social Fortune, Social Fate
  • Social Thinking and Me (Two Book Set)
  • Social Thinking Worksheets for Tweens and Teens:  Learning to Read In-Between the Social Lines
  • Socially Curious and Curiously Social
  • Sticker Strategies
  • Thinking About You, Thinking About Me
  • Think Social (Book and CD)
  • We Thinkers!  Volume 1:  Social Explorers Deluxe Package
  • We Thinkers!  Volume 2:  Social Problem Solvers Deluxe Package
  • What is a Thought?
  • Whole Body Listening Larry at Home!
  • Whole Body Listening Larry at School!
  • Why Teach Social Thinking
  • You are a Social Detective:  Explaining Social Thinking to Kids

PEERS Curriculum:
College:
Emotion and Body Language:
Friendships:
For Mental Health Professionals:
Life Skills:
Narrative-Based Interventions:
Perspective Taking:​
Prosody:
School-Wide Programs:
Social Communication:
Social Skills:
Social Skills for Individuals with Classic Autism:
Social Problem Solving:
Work: