How To Use Social Situation Mapping
This month’s blog is brought to you by one of Wolf’s incredible Speech Language Pathologists, Kristen Montag. After working with Complex Learners for over 7 years, Kristen knows firsthand that many Complex Learners also struggle socially. That’s where our amazing SLPs come in! Read on to learn more about one of Kristen’s favorite strategies for helping Complex Learners develop their social skills!
Understanding Social Situation Mapping
“Social Situation Mapping” is a strategy that was developed by Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke from the Social Thinking© Program. It was developed to help students understand and make choices in the social world. It utilizes a structured and systemic approach that uses visuals to map out challenging social situations for students. The maps are meant to be taught from the perspective of the student to provide options for what to do or say in common social situations. At the Wolf School, this approach is used frequently to help our students with social problem-solving, especially as they move into their middle school years.
How To Use Social Situation Mapping
Here is a brief summary of Garcia’s and Crooke’s “Social Situation Mapping: 10-Step Visual Guide.”
Step 1: Start by asking the student to define and describe the social situation. Ask them to consider the “who,” the “where” and the “what” of the circumstance.
Step 2: Then ask the student to identify the unexpected behaviors that occurred within that social situation.
Step 3: Next, pose this idea to the student: “If the behaviors we listed in step 2 were ‘unexpected,’ the opposite behaviors would be “expected” behaviors. Can you list the expected behaviors related to this social situation?”
Step 4: Now ask the student to make a connection about how the expected behaviors may make other people feel or think? Also, ask the student how the expected behaviors make them feel and think.
Step 5: Guide the student in connecting those feelings to possible actions or reactions. “How might a person act or react based on those feelings?”
Step 6: Then we connect actions or reactions back to feelings. “How might the person who those (re)actions were directed towards feel?”
Step 7: Now have the student look back to the “unexpected behaviors” that they listed in step 2. Ask them “How do you think others might feel? How would you feel?” in response to those behaviors.
Step 8: Connect those feelings to possible actions or reactions. Ask, “How might they act or react based on those feelings?”
Step 9: Connect actions or reactions back to feelings. Ask, “How might the person who those (re)actions were directed towards feel?”
Step 10: Finally, use a visual map to SUM IT UP students, so the student can start to make the connections themselves.
Visualizing Social Situation Mapping
Because moving through a 10-step process can sometimes be cumbersome during a busy school day, here is a visual that I use “in the moment” to streamline and simplify the 10-step process for students:
In addition, I use this “Social Problem Journal Page” developed from the concepts of Social Situation Mapping. It is a great tool to use as you guide students through the steps of problem-solving as they process through and navigate challenging or confusing social situations.
As students practice the steps of social problem-solving, they become more self-reflective regarding their abilities to navigate challenging and confusing social situations. Eventually, they develop increased independence and improved self-advocacy skills. Ultimately, we hope our students will achieve the goal of being effective and confident social thinkers!
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