All of us have experienced a time in which they did something which could be construed as "socially awkward" - I average about 150 of these moments in one day. There is a fun curriculum called Superflex®: A Superhero Social Thinking Curriculum which teaches children (and adults!) about factors and behaviors which can interfere with positive social interactions, and thereby reduce social awkwardness Basically, there is a superhero named Superflex, who exemplifies flexible, adaptive, and positive thinking in a social context. Then there are a gang of villains, called the "Unthinkables," who represent reasons for breakdowns in social interactions. For example, one villain is "Rock Brain," who makes people become rigid and inflexible regarding their ideas, and another villain is Glassman, who makes people have huge emotional reactions to tiny problems. Here is a picture of Superflex and the "bad guys":
Recently, as a means to help children identify moments when the "Unthinkables" are threatening to derail a social interaction, I have begun taking videos of myself and kids play-acting different Unthinkables on video. Here is a child pretending to have "Body Snatcher" inside of his brain, which results in him not being able to physically stay with an interaction:
Here is a video of me as "One-Sided Sid," in which I want to just talk about something I am interested in, and am not interested in what others have to say: