by Erin McKenney, Stern Center Evaluation Team
The Cynthia K. Hoehl Institute for Excellence at the Stern Center, along with support from the Vermont Agency of Education, is offering a three-part Assessment Symposium Series for school psychologists and other education professionals. The first workshop, Assessing Social Cognition, was held at the end of January 2015.
Presented by Julie Erdelyi, this workshop was designed to help support educators, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, guidance counselors and anyone working with children who may be struggling with social cognition skills.
Social cognition refers to how people process social information, especially its application to situations requiring a level of social interaction. When considering social deficits what often comes to mind is Autism Spectrum Disorder. However, these deficits can apply to children with wide ranges of issues, such as attention-deficit disorder, complex trauma, attachment disorders, speech and language disorders, and learning disabilities. It is important for providers to be able to evaluate a child’s level of social cognition in order to implement effective interventions.
