The Superflex® collection is an affordable lifestyle collection that caters to all market segments. Frame materials include stainless steel, aluminum and hand-made acetate. Designs range from elegant classics to contemporary for both men and women. All frames are designed with spring hinge temples for added comfort, fit and durability. Is a New Jersey based company engaged in the manufacturing of flexible spiral reinforced hoses and electrical conduit. Since its foundation in 1981, Superflex has expanded to become a leading force in the hose industry.
Looking for an engaging way to teach social awareness and self-regulation? Superflex, to the rescue! Kids around the world are having fun learning strategies and practicing new skills to boost their “Superflex powers,” so they don’t realize they’re improving their self-regulation and flexible-thinking abilities! (New to Superflex? See what it’s all about in this short article.)
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IMPORTANT: The first book in the Superflex series is You are a Social Detective!, which builds social awareness—the foundation of self-regulation. Please spend time teaching You are a Social Detective! before using the Superflex Curriculum with kids.
What's included
Superflex Curriculum: The 106-page curriculum contains lessons, activities, character profiles, and materials to create a personalized Superflex Superhero Training Academy for your students. Kids learn they each have Superflex (a flexible-thinking superhero) inside their brains. Superflex helps them take on the Team of Unthinkables, cartoon-like characters who embody different behaviors and challenges such as Rock Brain, who makes people get stuck on their own ideas, and Glassman, who makes people have huge upset reactions to small problems. The curriculum outlines the powers of each of the 14 Unthinkables and teaches strategies to help students subdue each Unthinkable as it invades their brains.
Introductory Storybook:Superflex Takes on Rock Brain and the Team of Unthinkables, is a 21-page storybook that tells the story of how Superflex came to be a superhero. The children enter Superflex's hometown, Social Town, and learn about the cast of sneaky Unthinkables who are trying to invade the brains of everyone who lives there. Superflex and his sidekick dog, Bark, go on their first mission to try to save the citizens of Social Town from the wrath of unflexible thinking brought on by the Unthinkables.
Why people around the world are using Superflex
Many children (with and without diagnoses) have difficulty regulating their behavior. Superflex provides a fun forum in which they can explore their challenges and identify ways to modify their thoughts and behavior in different settings. Depicting behaviors as cartoon characters (a.k.a. the Unthinkables) helps students learn about their own behavior in a non-threatening way. Superflex empowers and motivates students to self-regulate—reducing meltdowns and anxiety as students develop their own inner superhero.
Children with diagnoses who respond well to Superflex teachings often have autism levels 1 and 2, ADHD, social communication disorders, and others.
How do I “teach Superflex”?
First, teach You are a Social Detective! to help kids develop a solid foundation of social awareness so they can get the most out of using Superflex teachings. The Superflex Curriculum was designed to be used only after students have practiced being a “social detective”.
The curriculum is intended to be taught to children ages 7 to 10+, but can be tailored for use with younger and older kids. When teaching about Superflex to kids ages 5 to 7 or older kids who are immature, focus on developing awareness that their brains generate the powers of the Thinkables and Unthinkables. With ages 8 and up, if kids are able, encourage them to use self-regulation strategies to defeat the Unthinkables.
How to teach Superflex to kids ages 8+ (with average maturity): First, read the introductory Superflex storybook to introduce students to the characters. Then, read aloud from the curriculum for 20 minutes or so per day, depending on what your students can handle. The curriculum introduces the concepts of Superflex and the Team of Unthinkables through a series of lessons. Start by talking about how the brain works, how social information is part of the brain, how we can change our behavior, the flexible-thinking our brain is expected to do (represented by Superflex) and the thoughts that challenge our brains from doing our best (represented by the Unthinkables). Each lesson stands on its own and may take multiple sessions to teach. Teach slowly to help kids deeply understand the information and begin to integrate the concepts into their own thinking and behavior.
There is no “finish line” for working on these concepts. Once the concepts are taught through the curriculum, the next step is to help students use the vocabulary and strategies during real-time situations and interactions. It’s one thing to talk about Glassman as part of a lesson; it’s much more challenging for a student to 1) identify when Glassman is invading his or her brain, 2) think about the situation and how the student’s behavior is affecting others, and 3) employ one or more of the strategies taught in the Superflex Curriculum! Avoid only talking about Superflex during times of poor behavior—it’s really important to praise kids when you see them using Superflex strategies and thinking flexibly. Positive reinforcement goes a long way in motivating kids to improve their flexible thinking. Learn more key insights on how to teach Superflex in this free webinar.
Superflex is ME and YOU, and YOU, too!
It’s important to teach students that because Superflex lives within them, their Superflex looks like THEM. Superflex is not defined by a specific gender or ethnicity. Main character Aiden’s Superflex looks like HIM (the Superflex we see in the books), but my Superflex looks like ME, and your Superflex looks like YOU!
Use the Superflex is Me! Coloring Sheet to teach this concept and have kids draw their inner Superflex. Watch the video below to learn more about this lesson from Ryan Hendrix, a member of our Social Thinking Training and Speakers’ Collaborative.
Superflex Music CD (Sold Separately)
Supplement your teaching with Superflex music! We teamed up with Grammy-nominated songwriters to create 13 fun kid songs that support the concepts and strategies taught through the Superflex Curriculum. The music is available via CD and streaming through popular music platforms. Start singing those Unthinkables to rest! Preview the songs on this page.
How Superflex connects to the larger Social Thinking Methodology
The Superflex Curriculum is one of many products we use with students to build their social competencies. A more comprehensive two-book curriculum, Social Thinking and Me (Winner and Murphy, 2016) is designed for students ages 9 to 12 to read as they engage in social emotional learning in treatment groups, inclusion-based classrooms and/or at home. This set provides explicit instruction to help our students strengthen their social competencies in every setting.
Superflex® the Team of Unthinkables and the Five-Step Power Plan
Michelle Garcia Winner, MA, CCC-SLP
Updated: Feb, 2021
© 2021 Think Social Publishing, Inc.
When we introduced the Superflex® teaching curriculum in 2008, little did we realize the far-reaching effect it would have on kids, parents, teachers, counselors, and clinicians across the country and around the world. Superflex and the engaging characters that are part of the curriculum – the Unthinkables and Thinkables – have been infused in creative ways into social groups, classrooms, even on a school-wide basis to help all students become better social detectives, social thinkers, and social problem solvers.
Superflex and the Team of Unthinkables Background and Brief History
Superflex is a superhero people have in their minds to help them use strategies to promote self-regulation, social thinking, and related social skills. Superflex…A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculumwas first published in 2008, and is a colorful, kid-friendly Social Thinking curriculum created for K-5 students. It’s paired with a cute comic book that introduces the concept of the Team of Unthinkables, characters that represent the different ways our brain has not-so-flexible thinking in social situations. The first comic focuses on the very common Unthinkable, Rock Brain, who gets kids stuck on just one thing and thwarts their superflexible thinking. While the curriculum was originally designed for K-5, over the years we’ve learned that the self-regulation piece requires a deeper level of thinking and processing that is better suited for third to fifth graders. So, even though K-2 kids really like to learn about the powers of their Social Detective, and about Superflex and the Unthinkables, in using the curriculum with this age range we let go of the expectation that they will self-regulate to control their Unthinkable’s power and maximize their superflexible thinking.
Today the Superflex series is also being introduced in mainstream elementary school classrooms for use with all students, and as part of Social Emotional Learning, Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports (PBIS) and Response to Intervention (RTI) programs. Teachers also use these pro-social teaching methods for helping students analyze characters they are reading about in language arts or to help students develop narrative essays for written expression. The concepts related to Superflex and the Team of Unthinkables have also been used by mainstream teachers as part of teaching concepts included in the Common Core Standards. Forexample, students learn about “Point of View” as they study the powers of One-Sided Sid (right), another popular Unthinkable who likes to make people talk only about their own interests or themselves.
As interesting and motivating a teaching curriculum this is, Superflex is not the place to start when preparing students to learn more about the powers of their brains in socially-based situations. We first introduce our young learners to the concepts of expected verses unexpected behaviors in particular situations to help them explore their own Social Detective skills. Our comic book, You Are a Social Detective, teaches both adults and children about Social Thinking concepts that are the foundation of, and precursor to, learning about Superflex and how to monitor and empower superflexible thinking while learning to minimize the powers of our Unthinkables. It’s an important first step.
After students are introduced to these core concepts (also taught through the use of our more expansive curriculum, Think Social: A Social Thinking Curriculum for School Age Students), the Superflex curriculum now has the power to help students learn more about their own self-regulation while also paying better attention to the expectations that surround them. Ultimately we want kids to learn that Superflex, our Social Thinking superhero, can help the citizens of Social Town outsmart the Team of Unthinkables and diminish their powers to distract, disengage, and otherwise detour children in their efforts to think about others and use their social thinking abilities.
Once the concepts and strategies in Social Detective and Superflex have been taught to children, adults can move on to individual comic books that focus on specific Unthinkables. These story-based books explain a character’s powers in more detail and provide workable strategies that children can be taught to use when that Unthinkable invades their brain and overpowers their thinking. Our books published after 2009 also each contain a CD which provides additional lessons plans–we call them “thinksheets” - to help kids complete “fun work” which promotes more learning around the specific concepts taught in the books. To date four comic books focusing on specific Unthinkables have been released; we have plans to release more over time:
- Superflex Takes on Rock Brain and the Team of Unthinkables (2008), which is packaged with the Superflex curriculum book
- Superflex Takes on Glassman and the Team of Unthinkables (2009)
- Superflex Takes on Brain Eater and the Team of Unthinkables (2012)
- Superflex Takes on One-Sided Sid, Un-Wonderer, and the Team of Unthinkables (2013)
Superflex Hose
Social Thinking’s teachings are a work in progress and we readily accept feedback from the community. Since its release we have received many accolades for how this teaching system helps students learn more about themselves, which helps them improve their own self-regulation skills. However, that doesn’t mean it is the perfect teaching tool. Over the years some teachers and parents asked us to explain how Superflex got his powers. To this end, in 2012 we released a new book (Social Town Citizens Discover 82 New Unthinkables for Superflex to Outsmart) with information on how to teach Superflex’s Very Cool Five-Step Power Plan. While the Power Plan can be very helpful, at this point the teaching becomes more complex and is best used with students who are at least in third grade.
Superflex’s Very Cool Five-Step Power Plan: Helping Students Organize their Thinking to Defeat the Unthinkables
Here’s the story we share with upper elementary school-age students about Superflex’s Power Pals. The more our students learned about their own Superflex the more they recognized that many more Unthinkables existed beyond the original 14 we had written about in our core curriculum. We started getting emails and drawings about Unthinkables such as Blurt Out Blue, Rule Police, Negasorus Nix, Empathy Eraser, Perfect Pete, and Dr. Downloader, to name just a few. In fact, when we issued an invitation to Social Town citizens everywhere, they responded with 500+ submissions of new Unthinkables that were invading the brains of our students!
Superflex realized that with the growing number of powers trying to defeat his own thinking, he needed to develop even stronger superflexible thinking. So he called on five of his closest pals to teach him more about the critical powers needed to truly defeat Unthinkables. His five pals—Decider, Social Detective, Brakester, Flex DoBody, and Cranium Coach - came together with Superflex’s guidance to think as a team to create a plan that would help Social Town citizens everywhere develop true superflexible thinking. Introducing Superflex’s Very Cool Five-Step Power Plan! In the plan, each of the Power Pals shares one special lesson or power:
Decider provides Power #1,the ability to stop, decide, and describe which Unthinkable(s) is trying to overpower your superflexible thinking. Decider taught Superflex how to stop and describe what was happening within the student’s body and brain so that Superflex and the student could decide which Unthinkable was attempting to invade. Once the Unthinkable was identified, Decider also helped Superflex select which of his/her many powers and strategies to use. As Decider explained to Superflex, it doesn’t make sense to use a strategy designed to defeat Mean Jean if he was trying to defeat WasFunnyOnce!
Social Detective provides Power #2,the ability to stop and observe the situation and the people in the situation. Social Detective took the time to show Superflex that a critical power lies within everyone’s own observation toolbox. Social Detective taught Superflex about using clues from his eyes, ears, and brain to help understand the situation and the people in the situation to figure out what was expected behavior at that particular time. Wow! This was amazingly helpful to Superflex because it helped him develop supersensitive observation powers (a whole surveillance system) in his brain.
Brakester provides Power #3,the power to stop and think to discover the hidden rules in the situation. Brakester taught Superflex how he could stop and think about the hidden rules once he’d observed the people in the situation. Brakester talked about how the hidden rules are almost like hidden treasures because they’re the secrets of the social situation and help to explain why people are expected to act in certain ways! Superflex was very excited to gain this power but also knew that our students needed to do more than just think about what is expected, they needed to do more expected behaviors.
Flex DoBody provides Power #4,the power to use flexible thinking to determine which strategies would help the student do what’s expected. Flex DoBody reminds students there is a choice of strategies and helps students figure out which strategy to choose so they can practice new behaviors in that situation. Superflex knows this requires students to become more flexible thinkers so they can flexibly pick the best strategy to use at the right time and in the right place. So Flex gave Superflex a test by saying: “Now that you’ve described your Unthinkable, observed the situation, and stopped to think about what’s expected, what strategies will you flexibly think about? Which one or two will you choose to do to defeat this scoundrel?” Superflex realized that Flex was teaching him the secret of flex and do! Superflex understood that thinking and observing are super important but using flexible thinking, making choices, and carrying out a plan to defeat an Unthinkable are also important. This power helps Superflex finish any job he’s started!
Cranium Coach provides Power #5,using self-talk with help from your built-in brain coach! (Remember: This coach is usually in your brain and just silently coaches you.) Superflex learned the last strategy from his very wise pal, Cranium Coach, who explained to Superflex that everyone needs to develop an in-their-brain-coaching-system to help them self-evaluate when they “did a good job” or when they need to “hang in there” or “keep trying.” Cranium Coach revealed to Superflex that everyone actually has a built-in inner brain coach who can silently coach us and motivate us to keep working to defeat whatever Unthinkable is near. We need to practice accessing it and using it! Cranium Coach helps you notice that you’re improving even if you aren’t great at something yet! And, you can also use your inner coach to help you describe the things you did that helped you through the process!
The Thinkables Emerge
We noticed that citizens of Social Town were accomplishing some great feats by learning how to use their superflexible thinking and the Five-Step Power Plan to defeat the Unthinkable(s) that were trying to control their brains. As citizens became better and better at using their strategies and making choices to keep Superflex in charge of their brains, their Unthinkables weren’t showing up as much to really challenge Superflex anymore. Some citizens became so good at this that their Unthinkables were mostly defeated most of the time. This was very exciting! With the help of the five Power Pals, Social Town citizens were developing more positive thinking and as a result, new Thinkables started to appear. Rainbow Girl teaches people how to stay calm when something goes wrong. Space Respecter helps citizens to be mindful of others’ personal space. Focus Tron gives people greater focusing powers. Sunny Sun (right) helps people see all the good things in a day and feel pretty good about their lives. As more and more citizens developed stronger superflexible thinking, more and more Thinkables started appearing so that citizens were now getting help from entire teams of Thinkables! And, what was even better was that the very cool Five-Step Power Plan could also be used to figure out how to most effectively work with the Thinkables too!
The Learning Continues
Detailed information on how to teach and use the Five-Step Power Plan, along with many examples of completed Power Plans are presented in Social Town Citizens Discover 82 New Unthinkables for Superflex to Outsmart (2012). In this book, we also introduce various Thinkables and explore how students can replace their Unthinkables with Thinkables once they develop a certain level of self-regulation….but more on that in the next article!
Two Superflex games released in 2014 take Superflex learning to the next level! Superflex Superdecks, and the Thinkables & Unthinkables Double Deck, are both designed to be companion teaching tools for adults who are teaching Superflex or to use in creative new ways with students who are already familiar with the Superflex series. These card-deck based games are the ultimate superflexible products for adults to use in different ways to reinforce superflexible thinking in the individuals with whom they work.
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