by Michelle Garcia Winner
Every one of us is a Social Detective. We are good Social Detectives when we use our eyes, ears, and brains to figure out what others are planning to do next or are presently doing and what they mean by their words and deeds.
This entertaining comic book offers different ways that can be reviewed repeatedly with students to teach them how to develop their own social detective skills.
Enjoy watching your students and kids blossom day-by-day into successful Social Detectives!
Elementary school-aged (K-5) students, and immature older middle and high school students who enjoy visual books, may benefit from this book. But this isn’t just a book for students who have challenges relating to autism spectrum disorders, Asperger’s, ADHD and like challenges. The lessons also offer a variety of engaging ways to introduce the concepts of social thinking to general education teachers, paraprofessionals, parents, caregivers, special educators, grandparents, siblings, daycare workers, scout leaders, etc. So, don’t think you have to be a kid to enjoy learning about social thinking! Throughout the book, keywords are highlighted in bold.
These keywords represent the Social Thinking vocabulary, concepts that can be used in just about every environment, by everyone in the process of discovering social thinking. The words are also fully defined for easy reference in the back of the book. Kids can read this themselves but it is best when adults read it with them, so that adults learn the social thinking vocabulary with the kids and then work to help the kids explore these concepts in their daily lives when the book is closed. This book is also the first book to read with students prior to introducing the Superflex lessons, as it teaches the core Social Thinking Vocabulary.
The sections of the book include:

1. School Smarts/Social Smarts & Expected Behavior
2. Unexpected Behavior
3. Being a Social Detective

Social thinking vocabulary keywords highlighted throughout the book and defined in the back of the book include:
Social Smarts: The type of “smarts” in our brains that we use whenever we are around other people. Social smarts help our brains to know that others are having thoughts about us and we are having thoughts about them. We use social smarts in school, at home, and EVERYWHERE!
School Smarts: Different types of “smarts” in our brains that we use for school learning. Things like math smarts, computer smarts, music smarts, science smarts, and many more.
Body in the group: Your body is in the group if others feel you are part of the group. For example when you are standing, this means keeping your body about one arm’s length away from others. The front of your body will be turned towards others in the group.
Brain in the group: Your brain is in the group when others feel that you are paying attention to what is happening in the group; for example, when you are thinking about others with your eyes and listening to what they are talking about.
Thinking with your eyes: This means that you are using your eyes to look at a person and it makes them feel that you are thinking about what they are saying or doing.
[Source: Amazon.com]
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