What are social cognitive communication skills?

Social cognitive communication involves multiple processes, including:  attending to one's environment, interpreting contextual features, generating an expected response, and identifying the success of the interaction based on others' responses. Underlying these processes are the ability to engage in perspective-taking, gestalt processing, and theory of mind. An individual's ability to produce social cognitive communication skills therefore relies on the aforementioned foundations. In order to engage in dynamic social interactions, all of these elements must be addressed in order for the individual to produce the following social cognitive communication skills: verbal communication, conversation, asking for help, generating and understanding humor, social problem-solving, building and maintaining friendships, and nonverbal communication.

Our goal is to address not only the discrete social skills, but also the underlying processes in order to provide deep learning and ensure true comprehension. Once an individual is better able to see "the big picture" and understand the "why" behind certain social rituals, they are better able to engage with others successfully.