SOCIAL STORIES

HI friends.....welcome back

 Thanx to my cousin who post nice quotes in the face book, i am glad i borrowed one of his !!!!! just for you
patience,persistence and perspiration
make an unbeatable combination for success... i totally totally agree with this. In the prevous posts ,quite a few times I mentioned about social stories, it seems you got a super duper memory..... lets work it out for the best.
Do you remember your first day of school? chances are good that mom or dad(or both) explained what time you would go, where you’d be, what to expect, how you’d handle lunch and snacks, and how they’d pick you up at the day’s end. Those kinds of conversations are immensely comforting, especially when we are negotiating or learning something brand new and fairly unknown.  Well social stories provide the same kind of comfort for students with autism and other related disabilities.

Social stories- are a tool for teaching social skills to children with autism and related disabilities. Social stories provide an individual with accurate information about those situations that he/she may find difficult or confusing. The situation is described in detail and focus is given to a few key points. The goal of the story is to increase the child’s understanding of the situation, make him more comfortable with, and possibly helping the child to make appropriate responses for the situation.  Social stories are written and read to the child about social settings in a conversational way. The social stories are created by CAROL GRAY an ASD teacher. Thanks to her:JJJ

Creation of social stories: there are a couple of important things to keep in mind while presenting the social story.

ü  The text should have simple language that’s appropriate to the student’s emotional development and level of understanding.

ü  Use more of “I” rather than less specific pronouns like “HE”OR “SHE”, makes the child feel they are the center of the story.

ü  The story should evoke mental image or picture.

ü  Use positive language and I am sure it orients the child in the success of encounter. (“ I will not run in the classroom” instead  “ I will try to sit in my chair in the classroom”)

ü  Use more of present tense helps them feel the immediacy of the successful interaction.

ü  Social story is intended to be written from the perspective of the child.

ü  Focus of the story should typically be given to the motivation of the current or selected behaviours.

ü  The expected response or outcome should be clearly defined.

ü  Replace the phrases like “I can” and “I will” with “I will try” or “I will work on” in forming sentences.

ü  When writing the story ensure to use an appropriate vocabulary and right kind of size. ( for a kinder garden use single idea in one page with picture illustrations, an elementary school child might benefit with simple paragraph with picture cues and symbols)

ü  Use picture representations, real photographs or symbols of a situation, might add interest and visual support to the selected idea or targeted social situation.

ü  A reading of a written story can be recorded on an audio tape for the child to read and understand social cues.

Writing a social story/construction of a social story: before constructing a social story parents need to brain storm and exchange information to seek opinions (persons involved in child’s current situation) about the targeted social situation where the child is having problem.

Social stories generally include four different types of sentences, and it’s helpful to have or use one of the sentences in writing a social story.

v  Descriptive: a descriptive sentence does just what it promises; describes what people do, the setting, or instructions. Ex; “I ask Maya how her dad is doing because is in the hospital now” it’s simply addresses the WH questions like WHERE the situation takes place, WHO is involved, WHAT they are doing, and  WHY  they might be doing etc.

v  Directive: a directive sentence explains the expectation in the encounter, relating the positive goal or desired behavior. It totally guides the child to the situation.

v  Perspective: a perspective sentence presents other’s point of view in the interaction, offering students a chance to identify with others feelings. Ex; “ my mom feels happy if I eat veggies and its good for health too though I don’t like them”

v  Control: a control sentence is kind of like the head of the beat, and the king of the jungle, helping children remember the story and its message. We usually add it last, after reviewing the story. Ex; whenever the bell rings its end of recess and I should stop playing and go to class right away.

Note: for every one directive sentence or control sentence in the story, there should be two to five descriptive or perspective sentences.

Implementation/fading:

Ø  The story should be shared with people involved in the child’s program

Ø  Read the story right before the social situation

Ø  The effectiveness of the story should be monitored consistently

Ø  The child becomes more stressful by reading the story, the content has to be modified to meet the needs of the child

Ø  As child masters the number of review  sessions to be lessened/or directive sentences to be reduced

Ø  The mastered story should be kept visible in the child’s environment for review when needeed
a sample social story: lets think maya has trouble interrupting people when they are talking, so lets write a story.
i can't interrupt when others are having a conversation or busy with something ,it n't polite(descriptive). i will try to tap the person on the shoulder and say excuse me. otherwise i will be be patient enough to wait till they are finished(directive). interrupting makes people angry becuse you stop them from talkingand they might forget about what they are talking(perspective), and grown ups like polite children(perspective). i will try and need to wait patiently(control).
Its very simple social story, i promise in the up coming posts we will learn to write more stories together.
I thank my instructor Ellen Arnold who provided the valuable information on social stories.
"I dream becuse there is no other way i could see it happen".... take care