Social Thinking Curriculum by Michelle Garcia Winner

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for recommendations for a therapy practice in Montgomery County, MD that uses the Social Thinking® methodology developed by Michelle Garcia Winner for teaching social skills.

Ideally, we are looking for a provider who implements Social Thinking either through speech therapy or ABA, and who has experience working with middle or high school students with social anxiety and social communication challenges.

If anyone has worked with a therapist or clinic that uses this approach and had a good experience, I would be very grateful for your recommendations.

Thank you so much!

[Anonymous]

We have loved Center for Communication and Learning for social skills groups for our early elementary kid. They are a speech therapy practice. Really easy to work with and they have a ton of experience with Social Thinking. However, I can't speak to experiences of older kids or individual.therapy.

[Anonymous]

In Bethesda, they have Telehealth sessions too
Children's Innovative Therapy Group, LLC - Speech-Language Therapy Services

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have loved Center for Communication and Learning for social skills groups for our early elementary kid. They are a speech therapy practice. Really easy to work with and they have a ton of experience with Social Thinking. However, I can't speak to experiences of older kids or individual.therapy.

We on the other hand, had a terrible experience with them. They were not just unhelpful but also unethical. That is one practice I would not recommend to anyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have loved Center for Communication and Learning for social skills groups for our early elementary kid. They are a speech therapy practice. Really easy to work with and they have a ton of experience with Social Thinking. However, I can't speak to experiences of older kids or individual.therapy.

We on the other hand, had a terrible experience with them. They were not just unhelpful but also unethical. That is one practice I would not recommend to anyone.

What happened? Can you expound on this?

[Anonymous]

Another recommondation for CCL, it is great for this!

[Anonymous]

A long time ago when my child saw a speech and language therapist from the Lab School, they used this material. Many of the Lab School therapists worked with each other to "practice" elements of this work with their therapy students -- having their students practice social interaction with other therapists and students.

This was not as a student at the Lab School, but as a "patient" in their private practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In Bethesda, they have Telehealth sessions too
Children's Innovative Therapy Group, LLC - Speech-Language Therapy Services

Agree with this, they were helpful for my college age child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have loved Center for Communication and Learning for social skills groups for our early elementary kid. They are a speech therapy practice. Really easy to work with and they have a ton of experience with Social Thinking. However, I can't speak to experiences of older kids or individual.therapy.

I had a bad experience with them with a social skills group for early elementary kiddos. The content looked great, but implementation is another story. They have no waiting room and fully expected kids on the spectrum to just go in with them (strangers at that point), they don't have a social story or any type of preliminary material. Kids were expected to sit, listen and participate. If mine could do that, he probably wouldn't need this group. He was crying and after 20 min returned to us. Prior to the group start they did an observation virtually w/o interacting with the child, so he didn't see faces he could match at the group. As a part of application I had to submit all relevant reports and evaluations. Nobody read those as became evident later. After the 1st session we were gently counseled out of participation by the lead therapist. To their credit, they refunded the money. Kids in the group varied in age (in early elem 2 year difference is huge) and weren't really matched by skill level, for reference, mine is ASD1 & ADHD.

Social thinking is a great curriculum though. You can also get your own set of materials on ebay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have loved Center for Communication and Learning for social skills groups for our early elementary kid. They are a speech therapy practice. Really easy to work with and they have a ton of experience with Social Thinking. However, I can't speak to experiences of older kids or individual.therapy.

I had a bad experience with them with a social skills group for early elementary kiddos. The content looked great, but implementation is another story. They have no waiting room and fully expected kids on the spectrum to just go in with them (strangers at that point), they don't have a social story or any type of preliminary material. Kids were expected to sit, listen and participate. If mine could do that, he probably wouldn't need this group. He was crying and after 20 min returned to us. Prior to the group start they did an observation virtually w/o interacting with the child, so he didn't see faces he could match at the group. As a part of application I had to submit all relevant reports and evaluations. Nobody read those as became evident later. After the 1st session we were gently counseled out of participation by the lead therapist. To their credit, they refunded the money. Kids in the group varied in age (in early elem 2 year difference is huge) and weren't really matched by skill level, for reference, mine is ASD1 & ADHD.

Social thinking is a great curriculum though. You can also get your own set of materials on ebay.

Many kids that can sit, listen and participate struggle socially and can benefit from a social skills class.