Superflex and Kool Q. Cumber to the Rescue!: Empower Your Thinkable to Defeat Your Unthinkable

Michelle Garcia Winner

May 2020 · Think Social Publishing

About this ebook

Superflex and Kool Q. Cumber to the Rescue! introduces readers to the Thinkable Kool Q. Cumber (we call him Kool, for short!). Kool helps Social Town citizens stay calm when problems happen, and use strategies they learn to figure out the size of a problem and the expected reaction size. In the story, Aiden and his classmates present science projects, but Aiden’s friend Sam becomes frustrated with problems throughout the day. As Sam feels his brain being invaded by Glassman, he uses the strategies he learned from Kool and the five Power Pals to calm down and have a reaction that matches the size of the problem. 

This engaging book is part of our Superflex series, which is designed to help children learn about their own and others’ thoughts and behaviors, and practice strategies for self-regulation across a variety of situations. As kids learn strategies to defeat the Unthinkables and unexpected behavior, they strengthen their flexible thinking and are better able to self-regulate in challenging times.

This illustrated storybook connects to and supports these Social Thinking Vocabulary concepts:

·       Figuring out the size of the problem

·       Learning to match reaction size to size of the problem (expected behavior)

·       Social attention/observation: what are other kids doing/how are they reacting?

·       Flexible Thinking

·       Using strategies to defeat Glassman: calming my body, breathing in, tightening all my muscles, breathing out and relaxing them; using positive self-talk, etc.

·       The Five-Step Power Plan helps organize children’s thinking so they can more effectively problem solve what’s happening around them. This aligns with and supports the four steps in the Social Thinking Social Competency Model: attend, interpret, problem solve, respond. 

·       Using the Five-Step Power Plan to assess the social dilemma.

Adults who are using the Superflex curriculum and concepts can use Superflex and Kool Q. Cumber to the Rescue!in several ways:

·       To help children celebrate their ability to defeat Glassman when he appears

·       To teach about and illustrate how calling upon Kool Q. Cumber can help them remember to match the size of their reaction to the size of a problem

·       As a companion book to Glassman, to help children compare and contrast the inner workings of their brain in tackling everyday social challenges related to problem and reaction sizes

·       In situations where students find it fun to act out ONLY the negative powers of the Unthinkables, use Kool Q. Cumber to shift attention to the positive powers for defeating Glassman. Focusing exclusively on the negative powers prevents students from learning how to defeat an Unthinkable!

·       Kool Q. Cumber can help when other Unthinkables invade a student’s brain alongside Glassman—Rock Brain, Worry Wall, and D.O.F. (Destroyer of Fun), etc.

About the author

Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP, is the founder and CEO of Social Thinking and a globally recognized thought leader, author, speaker, and social-cognitive therapist. She is dedicated to helping people of all ages develop social emotional learning, including those with social learning differences. Across her 30-year career she has created numerous evidence-based strategies, treatment frameworks, and curricula to help interventionists develop social competencies in those they support. Michelle’s work also teaches how social competencies impact people’s broader lives, including their ability to foster relationships and their academic and career performance. She and her team continually update the Social Thinking® Methodology based on the latest research and insights they learn from their clients.