This workshop was an introduction and overview of the core skills needed to develop social competency and ultimately grow social capital, future proofing children with hearing loss for a tomorrow that may look very different from today. You will get a quick-fire overview of some of the core vocabulary used in social thinking and how it related to growing theory of mind and executive functions. It focused on practical ways to grow emotional literacy and the skills we need to think flexibly and inferentially to access both the academic and social curriculum of primary and secondary school.

Following on from the 2020 workshop on executive function this workshop delved deeper into the practical tools that can be used to grow social competency skills, providing delegates with therapy session plans, ideas, tools and resources to take away and use straight away. Finally, it introduced activities that promote talking about self-identity and autobiographical memory, the personal stories we need nurtured to create a sense of self.

Topics included:

• How do we choose activities that encourage vocab, grammar and social thinking?
• How do we assess social thinking?
• Promoting social thinking vocabulary through video clips.
• Where do we start with feeling words?
• Building habits that promote wellbeing, specifically for hearing loss.
• Executive functions: how can I share practical tools that will impact behaviour.
• A brief introduction to Autobiographical memory