Frequently Asked Questions

Social Thinking Boston uses the Social Thinking® Methodology developed by Michelle Garcia Winner. We do not teach social behaviors but instead teach the underlying thinking. Rather than coaching clients to use a memorized set of behaviors, we teach them how to socially problem solve because the social experience requires us to adapt our social responses based on the situation and social situations constantly change!

The focus of our groups is to help clients develop social competencies which may in turn make it easier for them to develop and maintain relationships with others outside of group. We do not group clients with the goal of having them become “friends.”

It’s important to remember that social learning challenges are very real and for that reason social learning is a SLOW process. We have to first break down the social process and teach our clients about how the social world works before even helping them to navigate it. Our clients typically stay with us for at least one academic year though we have many that continue on for much longer. It is also not uncommon for clients to return later in life as social learning challenges can rear up during different milestones. It is our goal to help clients become more comfortable in the social world and be able to use their strategies with minimal support. Therefore, we do not consider treatment “finished” when we see behavior change but rather focus on how the client reports they are doing outside of treatment sessions.

We are a private pay company and do not take insurance. Upon request, we will provide treatment codes and diagnostic codes on invoices. Clients seeking partial reimbursement can submit these invoices to their insurance companies. You can learn more here.

Clinicians will keep caregivers informed on what their child is working on in sessions. Depending on the group, clinicians will either hold a weekly in-person or remote wrap-up or email home a letter giving information on the concept(s) that were covered and ways to carry learning over to home. Individual and school consults are available on a limited basis at an additional fee.

There is an emerging body of evidence about the effectiveness of the methodology and all of the frameworks are rooted in research. You can read more here.

Our Monday-Thursday weekly group/individual sessions run for 60 minutes (50 minutes of coaching and a 10 minute caregiver wrap-up). Our Saturday groups meet two times per month and run for 1.5 hours (1 hour 15 minutes of teaching and a 15 minute caregiver wrap-up).

When we receive an inquiry we reach out and schedule a phone call with the interested parent or adult client. If we determine that the client is a good fit for our program we then ask families to complete an online application. Once received we are then able to determine a grouping that would be a good fit or place the client on a waitlist.

We do not group based on diagnosis but rather by age and the client’s social learning style which we determine through conversations with parents, school reports, and the client’s application.

We offer rolling admissions meaning that we will add students to groups after the start of the semester. However, our groups fill quickly and we begin scheduling summer and fall groups 3-5 months before their official start date.

All of our groups have some focus on executive functioning as the social process requires it! We do occasionally offer groups that focus primarily on executive functioning and individual coaching is available on a limited basis.

We want clients to be active members in their group. Therefore, we typically have 4 clients per group.