Our Speakers: Global Training Experts
The Social Thinking Training & Speakers' Collaborative (STTSC) consists of highly trained professionals who are therapists and teachers based in several regions of the US and abroad (Singapore and Israel). All members of the STTSC are required to maintain active caseloads in schools or clinics in order to provide attendees with practical and relevant treatment information. Michelle Garcia Winner and Pamela Crooke, thought leaders in the development of the Social Thinking methodology, guide ongoing trainings of all members of the STTSC.
Note: The speakers listed below are officially trained and sanctioned by Think Social Publishing to provide trainings related to the Social Thinking Methodology. Before attending a training in your area, please make sure to look for the official STTSC member badge or confirm the name of the speaker on this website.
Dr. Cotton is a Clinical Developmental Psychologist who serves as a mental health consultant and expert for the Social Thinking Training & Speakers' Collaborative. Nancy received her Doctoral degree from Tufts University and completed Harvard Medical School internships and Post-doctoral fellowships in adult and child psychology. She was a principal teacher and supervisor at Harvard Medical School from 1977 until she moved to Vermont in 1995.
Dr. Cotton has a longstanding interest in the comprehensive treatment of children and adolescents with difficulties stemming from biological, psychological, social, communication, and learning vulnerabilities. She works closely with parents to develop their parenting skills and to understand their children’s individual styles. She was the Director of a Harvard teaching hospital Inpatient Child Psychiatry Unit for ten years and worked as a principal consultant to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health in program development and clinical treatment planning for children and adolescents in need of complex, intense, and comprehensive services.
Dr. Cotton has a private practice in Burlington, Vermont where she treats adults, children, and families. She is a licensed psychologist in Massachusetts and Vermont.
She consults throughout these states to school-based and mental health teams coordinating complex educational and mental health programming for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders, Psychiatric Disorders and behavioral and emotional problems.
Dr. Cotton is the Mental Health Specialist on Michelle Garcia Winner’s Social Thinking Training Collaborative and a Consulting Psychologist for Social Thinking Boston, Sudbury, Massachusetts.
Dr. Cotton’s approach to working with kids and their families emphasizes honoring, nurturing and treating the whole child and family. Her treatment is strength-based while problem-solving with good evaluations, empathetic formulations, and system-wide interventions to address difficulties stemming from biological, psychological, social, communication, and learning vulnerabilities.
Strategies to Build Social Competencies
The Social Thinking Methodology provides evidence-based strategies to help people ages four through adult develop their social competencies, flexible thinking & social problem solving and improve:
- Conversation & social connection
- Executive functioning
- Friendship & relationship development
- Perspective taking
- Self-regulation
- Social Thinking Vocabulary
Attend Our Clinical Training Program
Get an inside look at how our clinicians teach at Social Thinking clinics by attending our three-day intensive Clinical Training Program. Designed for professionals with experience using the Social Thinking Methodology. Continuing education credit is available.