Social Thinking Testimonials
Educator
"Meeting the needs of students with poor social skills has become one of the most challenging aspects of public education. For many special needs students regardless of disability it is the common theme for IEP goals. There are many methodologies available. In our district many of our educators, speech and language pathologists, and guidance counselors who work with IEP, 504, and EST students are "hooked" on the Social Thinking Curriculum. Thanks to the outstanding training the Stern Center has provided through Nancy Clement's instruction, my staff feel they finally have a program that will give them the tools necessary to teach social skills effectively. This is a curriculum that is easy to learn and implement for all people working with children in schools. Nancy's knowledge and enthusiasm for the program is contagious! I highly recommend this training."
Abigail Dillion, Director of Special Education, Windham Central Supervisory Union
Students
Our Social Scientists group has been together for 2 years! Nancy and Mary make our group FUN. We have learned a lot about ourselves, each other, and about other people's thoughts in lots of places! When we go out on field trips, we have figured out what other people are thinking and what they are doing...we make smart guesses about their thoughts and their actions. Now, we are learning to write our own goals and report to each other every week about how we are doing on our goals. We like coming to group and we hope it continues for a long time to come.
Matt, Josh, Kellen, Alex, Justin and Eamon
Parent
The recommendation that Eamon participate in Nancy Clements' Social Thinking Group was an immediate palliative to the sense of despair deriving from the sheer number of issues that were there to be addressed. Regardless of the group's merit, it gave an immediate sense that something was happening in the area of greatest priority and it gave some room to breathe while deciding what some of the other directions should be.
Does this sound like a perception of a band aid to a parent's psyche? To capture how far this is from representing the reality of what this decision has meant, consider this: at the end of the first meeting, on returning over the two hour ride home, my son's first response, coming from a legendary reticence to comment about his thoughts, was, "There are a lot of kids in my school that could use this stuff."
Later, when I pressed him about whether he thought it was something he would like to continue, his response was like the reflex of being seared on a hot stove. The suddenness and intensity of his "yes" shocked me. From that point on I have watched many sessions and, as a retired teacher and department head with nearly forty years of experience spending a considerable amount of time observing and critiquing teachers, I am in awe of what I have observed in this setting. Most impressively, I have watched the wide variety of initiatives Nancy uses to address the difficulties these boys bring to each session. She strenuously and with sensitivity engages everyone present which has resulted in progress for each of them. Furthermore, this group has formed the kind of social cohesiveness that most of us know and take for granted, yet, is such an intense need for these kids who generally find social interactions so difficult. Sincerely, Richard