Two people at a bus stop laughing over a movie they’ve both seen. A circle of friends sharing memories while gathered around a table sharing a special meal. Three students at recess negotiating those ever-changing rules of 4-square. So often, where we see people together, we hear or see conversation. It happens as we stand, sit, move, dance, or just lounge. It happens at all hours and in so many different places. As Martin Buber reminds us, “All actual life is encounter.”

We, humans, are creatures of habit. Every morning I drag downstairs, turn on the espresso machine, return about 5 minutes later to make coffee, etc., etc., etc. So much of what I do – especially Mon-Fri is framed by recurring actions. It’s probably the same for you. In some ways these rituals are comforting, but they can also be boringly repetitive and sometimes pretty uninspired. Our patterns are sometimes obvious, other times less so. Some are acceptable, but others might do well to be challenged. Conversations are one aspect of our lives that often follow predictable, habitual patterns.

I’m recently back from a wonderful 10 day (!) trip to Hawaii – more about that later… On my return, I found this question in my mailbox: “Students are really enjoying working with the Conversation Paths, but how can I support them in using more comments in their conversations – those seem to be the hardest for the students I work with.”

Hopefully, we have all settled into 2022 – in both our personal and work lives. In my last blog, paired with my free resource of the Best of 2021 featuring Maca & Roni, I focused on various visual supports with those animations. Let’s stay with the Maca & Roni theme again, but this time focus on some of the interpersonal social and relationship experiences that give us great material.

January. And a new calendar year. A time to begin fresh, with ideas and resolutions to enrich our lives. Also, the mid-point of the school year. A time to take a deep breath and gear up for the months that will bring us to summer!

November and December bring us an assortment of holidays. Time to gather with family and friends, enjoy and create family traditions, and perhaps engage in some gift-giving and getting. But no matter what lovely memories come out of these celebrations, November and December (ok, January also) bring with them many feelings. Some comfortable, others, not so much.

Are you looking for a new activity to roll out in your social cognition sessions? Something to grab your students’ attention in those weeks coming up to everyone’s much-needed winter break? Conversation in Real Time (CRT) is a lively and effective way to work on conversation – and all the complexities that conversation includes.

Last time, I wrote about mental state verbs (MSV) and their role in cognitive and communicative growth. Now let’s think about how MSV influence conversational competence.

Whether you are seeing students in person, solely via teletherapy, or some combination of the two, revitalize your social cognition and language work with some wonderful animations. If you need ideas and activities, check out my resouces at the end of the list. As always, please preview CAREFULLY to make sure they are a good fit for your particular students. These are in no particular order. Enjoy!

I am excited to announce that I will be participating in the 7th Annual Innovators in Education Conference. Psychologists, Speech & Language Pathologists, Social Workers and OT’s will receive CE.

I wanted to let you know that, later this month, I will be part of ADHD in Middle School Summit – a virtual meeting bringing together over 40 experts in the field of ADHD to share their best tips, strategies, and ideas for helping your child with ADHD thrive through the Middle School years. 

In the past months, I've talked to lots of therapists, parents and students about how teletherapy has been working for them. And I hear mixed results. Some love it. Some have grown to put up with it or even enjoy it, and some absolutely despise it. Honestly, I have had days/hours/sessions when I have felt all those feelings!  

Learn how to integrate a range of conversational building blocks, including questions, 4 starters, answers, comments, interjections, bridges, greetings and departures, all in a fast-paced format that will keep your students engaged.

Do you have students in your social learning groups who struggle to think and behave flexibly? Jumpstart discussions about this critical social concept with a terrific YouTube recommendation and suggested activity from Anna Vagin, PhD.

Combining my social group activity “name a comfortable and uncomfortable feeling you had today” with conversation work going deep on topics. Most popular topics: taking Christmas decorations down, skiing, getting a VR headset and cousin sleepovers.

New for 2020: Anna's Tuesday Tips, short videos providing resources to clinicians, teachers and parents of students with

@socialthinking

challenges. Check out the intro video & subscribe not to miss any:

Here are 10 of my latest favorites. Enjoy, but remember to always preview before showing to students - make it a great match!

Last time, I talked about how annoying this world we live in can be. BUT, this time I face that fact that, much as I don't like to admit it, I sometimes annoy others. Sometimes people I love, and sometimes strangers, sometimes knowing that I am doing it (yikes!), and sometimes unknowingly. It can be hard to recognize and accept the fact that sometimes we annoy others.

Traffic. People talking on cell phones at the gym. Dogs getting sick indoors. That spinning ball of doom on my computer right when a presentation is due. We often find ourselves in situations when we feel annoyed - sometimes with other people and other times with the experiences in which we find ourselves.

It's 2019 and time is just whizzing by! As we prepare for students to return to classrooms and therapy sessions, now seems like a good time to share my latest and greatest finds. 2018 was a FABULOUS year for wonderful new videos to use for social learning - check these out before you go back in to your sessions!