The social thinking class for eleventh and twelfth graders has been focusing on learning and putting into practice the Five Point Scale by Cari Dunn.  The Five Point Scale helps students understand social behavior in a concrete manner.  Students are learning about informal social behavior, reasonable social behavior, odd social behavior, scary social behavior and threatening or physically harmful social behavior.  The students are creating their own Five Point Scales as they relate to different areas of their lives.  This older group is also improving the skills necessary for the world of work. The students are working in Apollo's new second-hand store as part of social thinking class every Monday and Friday.  Some of the tasks for the students include sorting items pricing items, operating the cash register and working with customers. The expectation is to use all of their social thinking skills on the job. 

The social thinking class for ninth and tenth graders has been focusing on understanding social thinking terms as they relate to every area of their lives.  We have also spent time understanding the importance of active listening and putting that into practice. Another area that we are focusing on includes putting into practice the Five Point Scale by Cari Dunn.  The Five Point Scale helps students understand social behavior in a concrete manner.  Students are learning about informal social behavior, reasonable social behavior, odd social behavior, scary social behavior and threatening or physically harmful social behavior.  The students are creating their own Five Point Scales as they relate to different areas of their lives. We take time weekly to work on informal conversation skills in order  to develop and maintain healthy relationships with others. The focus has been on making casual conversation, remembering details about peers, making appropriate comments and asking follow-up questions to show interest.
 

Students are expected to use a planner for study skills class, which meets opposite social thinking class days. Each student was given a planner to use for class. The planners have both daily/weekly pages AND a month-at-a-glance page. This is the best kind of planner for students who struggle with executive function skills. Assignments should be written down on the weekly pages and checked off when completed. Long range assignments should be noted on the month-at-a-glance pages as well as on the daily pages. Students are encouraged to break down long range assignments and record the smaller steps that need to be completed on the weekly pages. Planners are checked every other day during study skills and points are given for recorded information. Encourage your student to check the daily/weekly pages and the month-at-a-glance every night before working on assignments. We also encourage the students to record home events in their planners - events such as birthdays, sporting events, practices, etc. This will encourage good planning and organization on a daily basis.