Teaching perspective-taking during Summer Trip Camp--Ryan Wexelblatt

When kids with ADHD struggle socially they have a learning issue, not a mental health issue.

Parents and mental health professionals often use terms like "he misses social cues", or worry about things like "missing non-verbal communication."

What's never been explained to most parents is that perspective-taking skills (understanding others' thoughts and feelings & understanding others' thoughts & feelings feelings about us-based on our words/behaviors within the context of a situation is the foundation of their child's social challenges.

-Going to talk therapy and talking about feelings isn't going to address this learning issue.
-Going to a social skills group where you learn a new skill each week is not going to address this learning issue.
-Role playing socially appropriate behaviors is not going to address this.
-Simply being around kids with better social skills is not going to change this. "Peer modeling is a myth perpetuated in IEPs."
-Constantly saying "that's inappropriate" or "that's unexpected" won't help.

Teaching how others' thoughts about us are based on our words/behaviors within the context of a situation will teach this as well visually teaching this sequence of events outlined in a social behavior map I adapted from Social Thinking®️.

I used the term "clutch, neutral, and cringey thoughts" to help teach how others' thoughts about us can fall into three categories and how we can help others to shift their thinking about us. We used our trip today as the context for the situation.