Hendrix, Ryan, MS, CCC-SLP

Ryan Hendrix is a Social Cognitive Therapist at Social Thinking Stevens Creek in San Jose and a private therapist in San Francisco. She trained and works directly with Michelle Garcia Winner and Dr. Pamela Crooke. Her diverse caseload experience includes preschool-age children through young adults with varying levels of social cognitive learning challenges.

In addition to running groups, she actively collaborates with families and related professionals (teachers, resource specialists, psychologists, etc.) on ways to promote carryover and generalization of learning outside of the clinic setting. Ryan also helps supervise and train graduate students and clinicians in their clinical fellowship year and does ongoing mentorships within the Social Thinking Stevens Creek clinic.

Ryan received her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a minor in Art Therapy and her Master’s Degree in Speech-Language Pathology from the University of Arizona. While at the U of A, Ryan met Dr. Crooke, who introduced her to the unpredictable, quirky world of Social Thinking. Having grown up with a close family friend with Asperger’s syndrome, the concepts and lessons resonated strongly with her. Throughout graduate school and during her clinical fellowship year as part of the Autism Clinic Extension, Ryan conducted evaluations, designed and implemented treatment programs, and developed and led individual and group-based programs for children and adolescents ages 4-15 on the autism spectrum. Together with Dr. Crooke, she put together a research project to examine the efficacy of Social Thinking therapy. They later authored a published journal article discussing the results of the pilot study and presented the preliminary results in a technical session at ASHA in 2007.

Following graduation, Ryan continued implementing Social Thinking principles as a speech-language pathologist at the Tucson Medical Center. There she worked with children ages 1-12 with a variety of cognitive and communication impairments. She also collaborated and co-treated with occupational and physical therapists. When opportunity knocked in late 2007, she followed Dr. Crooke west to the Center for Social Thinking.

Ryan’s artistic and creative talents allow her to present lessons in a visual, fun, and engaging manner. Working with a variety of ages and levels allows Ryan to sit on the floor, fly around in a cape, and create Superflex tools then turn around and explore the concept of a clique, the social fates and fortunes of working as a group, and break down the hidden rules of hanging out at a coffee shop. She is passionate about Social Thinking and the students and families she works with and enjoys collaborating with them and with their teams to take Social Thinking beyond the clinic walls.

Ryan, along with co-authors Kari Zweber Palmer, Nancy Tarshis, and Michelle Garcia Winner, created We Thinkers! Volume 1 Social Explorers and We Thinkers! Volume 2 Social Problem Solvers, curricula for preschool and early elementary years published by Social Thinking. She has thoroughly enjoyed creating a product that melds what we know about social development with the powerful concepts of Social Thinking and making it accessible to this group of learners and their teams and families.

Ryan truly enjoys sharing this information with families and professionals in both small settings and conferences and brings the concepts and strategies to life through stories and humor.

Other Experience

• Group Facilitator, Asperger Syndrome/High Functioning Autism Social Groups in the Tucson community.
• Developed, organized, and led in-home social play groups for children with social cognitive deficits from 6 to 15 years of age
• Instructor and volunteer, Art*Works Art Therapy Center
• Created and implemented literacy-based programming for adults with developmental disabilities
• Programmed and supervised art and collaborative cooking studios
• Designed and taught activities for daily living and life skills

Ryan lives with her husband, young daughter, and two dogs in San Francisco. The sights and sounds of a busy city are a big departure from the desert southwest where she grew up, but she loves to get out and explore the area and all of the wonderful things it has to offer, especially the food!