Anna Vagin, PhD, is a licensed speech/language pathologist with over 30 years of experience. Currently in private practice in Marin County, California, she provides individual sessions and social learning groups to families and children 8 years through young adulthood. Her particular interests are using media and gaming, including Therapeutically Applied Role-Playing Games, to support students with social cognition and language differences, and the role of mental processes in communication, relationships, and life satisfaction.
Anna received her doctorate from UC Berkeley and SFSU, writing her dissertation on the subject of mother-child interaction in children with cleft lip and palate. Her particular areas of study were attachment theory (with Mary Main, PhD, USB), early child language (with Anne Fernald, PhD, Stanford University), and cranio-facial difference.
She provides consultation to parent groups and schools, and is a frequent speaker in the US and Canada on topics related to social cognition. She is the author of Movie Time Social Learning (2013) and YouCue Feelings: Using Online Videos for Social Learning (2015), and developer of the Conversation Paths Pack Expanded Version (2021), and additional materials to support emotional learning and social engagement.
Meaningful activities bring real challenges, and for students with social cognitive and language differences, game play offers rich opportunities to try new approaches, take risks, and stretch beyond familiar patterns. In this two-hour course, we will explore how to thoughtfully use and modify a range of tabletop games to support deeper engagement. Participants will leave with concrete strategies to support students in thinking more deeply, communicating more clearly, and developing a stronger, more adaptable understanding of themselves. The 90-day Recorded Replay Access begins on August 26, 2026.
2 hours of training and CE credit available for select professionals.
Use YouTube videos to make learning about feelings and relationships easy and fun! YouCue Feelings offers video recommendations and provides 50 practical activities to guide students ages 4–14 in building their social learning vocabulary, tracking changes in feelings over time, and building strength in reflecting on their own emotional experiences. By incorporating brief, diverse video clips with targeted exercises, YouCue Feelings helps get young students thinking about, talking about, and ultimately, practicing important social learning ideas in their everyday lives.
Roko and I had the great pleasure of chatting with Anna Vagin, PhD on the Power of Others. Anna is in private practice helping students and young adults with social and cognitive differences. Anna gets to "help people become themselves." As leaders, we have the same opportunity that Anna does only with people on our teams.
Anna Vagin, Ph.D., explains how parents and teachers can help kids with ADHD learn successful communication techniques.
When chosen and used responsibly, movies and YouTube videos can be a great source of social learning material for students from early elementary school into young adulthood. Starting with a focus on the actions and emotions of characters can lead to making crucial connections to one's own actions and emotions, as well as the growing realization that we all face challenges, stumble, and re-group.