Customer Reviews

Socially Curious and Curiously Social

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Regardless of the reader's age, this gem of a book written primarily for teens and young adults with social challenges- will unlock the mysteries of social thinking and making friends. Each successive chapter builds on a pyramid of skills beginning with social thinking- understanding how body language and words impact how people feel, social skills- using social thinking to act in ways that make others comfortable, learning the social rules that change as we age, recognizing levels of friendships, making sense of social media such as Facebook and navigating the social world of dating.

The authors are speech therapists with vast experience helping teens and young adults decipher what is expected in their social worlds- a skill many young children pick up effortlessly but others must consciously learn. Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke are optimistic that young adults can turn their lonely lives around to form connections that may not only prevent depression and anxiety but enable successful careers and marriage. Social thinking is a survival skill.

Socially Curious and Curiously Social is written in a fun, easy to read way, for an intelligent and motivated audience. The authors focus on the reasons behind problematic behaviors rather than on the negative traits associated with specific disabilities. Important and complex concepts such as what is "networking", how to tell the difference between sarcasm and a true insult or why it is important to sometimes be a `social fake" are clearly explained and supported with numerous anecdotes and even cartoons.

Reading this book is like spending time with a social mentor one can return to as needed. As an occupational therapist and a mother of a college student with Asperger's syndrome I wish every high school administrator recognized the need for real life mentors who run groups similar to the ones the authors describe because social thinking is a life skill more important than learning algebra or writing a book report. Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke are supportive, at times funny, but consistently firm that the reader needs to take control of his/her own behavior/life, get out of the cave ("i.e. bedroom with computer) and start joining the social world.

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of The Recycling Occupational Therapist and Still Giving Kisses: A Guide to Helping and Enjoying the Alzheimer's Victim You Love.

I bought this book for my 16 year old daughter who has Asperger's Syndrome. She read it from cover to cover and claims that it gave her insight into paying attention to and responding to social cues, which is something she struggles with on a daily basis. Since rading it she does seem to being trying to put what she learned into practice and she said that she plans keep it and review it when necessary-- particularly before a social event.

I would definitely recommend this book for the tweens and teens with social disorders, and their parents as well.

I bought this book to read with my 14 year old daughter this summer before she entered high school. I'm glad I didn't just hand it to her. The book is not easy to read. Its chatty but, finding the important stuff is burried in lots of text. The book also contains information on sexual relationships for people with NVLD. So I'd say that the scope of the authors is very wide. We are looking for help on how to join kids to talk with between classes or eat lunch with, not "hooking up with"...yet. I would have appreciated the content related to sexuality be printed and sold separately as an appendix. That said, Ms. Garcia-Winner has an excellent reputation in this field and I hope I can get my daughter into one of her social skills groups in the near future.

I have loved every single book that I have purchased from Michelle Garcia Winner and her associates from her practice. I have also seen Michelle Garcia Winner speak and if you have the opportunity you should try to see her speak as well. Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke really understand the things that create difficulties with social cognition. This book is geared to middle schoolers and above. I think you might even be able to use it as early as 4th grade depending on your child and how much your child already knows. If you have been using Michelle Garcia WInner's "Think Social" book and your child has learned a lot from it, they may be ready for this book.

My 12 year old likes it when we read this book together and discuss things while reading it. Your child may want to read it alone if they are more inclined that way. I do think that it would be great for a parent to read and discuss it with their kid to make sure that they get it. You can never assume too much with kids with social cognitive thinking issues because sometimes they get things that you think they would not and other times they may not get things that you thought were a no brainer.

I think that this would make a great book for a school to use as a book study for a social skills class. I also think that this would be a good book for teachers for them to help students with social cognitive thinking although this book may not be as direct a tool as some of the other books by Michelle Garcia WInner and her associates.

My 14-year-old daughter and I are about half-way through this book. We are going through it slowly so she has plenty of time to observe the behaviors that it describes. It's the first Asperger's book we've used that actually tries to teach social thinking. While I don't agree 100% with every statement in the book and I don't necessarily want my daughter to try to internalize the attitudes of many teen girls, I think it is important for Aspies to do their best to understand the social arena so they can be a part of it on their own terms.