What are Social Stories

Asking Others To Play “Social Story”

I Will Follow the Rules

Social stories are the visual representation of situations or events that happen in our lives.  Modeling is a powerful tool to teaching children on the autism spectrum, children with communicative disorders as well as other disabilities that affect their ability to understand abstract information.  The story helps depict some particular social skill, life skill or behaviors that are acted out using visual strategies of symbols, pictures and verbal instruction.  These strategies take a concrete approach to learning to help the individual understand what is being said, how they should react and how to recognize situations that occur that they may be struggling with.

What is a good social story?

A good social story will focus on a particular event that provides information to a social, emotional, behavioral, or everyday life skill event.  This can include trips to the store, how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, meeting new people, playing appropriately with others as well as appropriate manners at the table, in community settings or when becoming frustrated or angry.

Social stories should address:

• Confusing situations for children with autism such as social situations.  They should provide details and information that creates a concrete understanding of abstract thoughts.
• It should explain how to react to certain situations and the expected behaviors they should engage in during these events.
• A social story will explain the consequences to unwanted actions and what could happen if they engage in those inappropriate behaviors.
• Social stories can even explain simple things like everyday life skills such as going to the bathroom and why it is important.  Many of our children struggle in this area.
• A social story can explain the actions of others and how they should react in those situations such as when someone tries to get you to do something you know is wrong, teases you, or doesn’t want to play with you.  Situations like these are difficult for individuals with poor social skills and creating that concrete understanding helps them develop the coping skills needed to address these situations in everyday life.

Social stories provide a concrete form of learning that is a role model for appropriate behavior.  It creates a main character in a story that allows the child to identify with the story and the strategies they use to respond appropriately to situations they may struggle with in life.  Providing an individual with special needs a solid form of learning everyday life skills is a great way to improve their ability to be more independent and successful in life.

Why do Visual Supports Help Individuals with Autism?

Toddler PECS Book

Visual supports are things you can see.  They include body language, natural environmental cues, schedules and calendars as well as things that are specifically designed to meet an individuals specific needs.  Visual supports allow individuals with communicative disorders such as autism, organic brain syndrome and developmental disabilities enhance their ability to communicate and understand what is expected of them.  Through the use of communicative aids individuals with autism can enhance their ability to communicate with people in their circle, improve effective receiving of information as well as processing information.  Visual cues are also important aides to promote independence and provide a means to allow individuals to express themselves in more appropriate ways.

• Body Language includes: Communicative messages are affected by the use of natural body language and help clarify messages.  The ability to understand the body’s natural signals can significantly affect an individual’s ability to understand others communicative message.
  

  Social Stories

• Facial expressions.
• Where the body is in location and orientation to the environment.
• The way a person stands.
• The movement a person makes in relation to their body.
• It includes reaching, touching and pointing at things.
• The way you look at someone, eye contact, the shift in eye gaze.

• Natural Environmental Cues: There are many natural cues around us.  It is important to be able to interpret their meanings in relation to the environment to help us function more effectively as well as more independently in the world around us.
  • The way we arrange our environment such as furniture.
  • The way people or objects move throughout the environment.
  • Signs, signals and other printed items that direct, or provide information.
  • Written or visual messages that provide instructions, choices or even menus at restaurants.

Activity Schedules

• Organizational materials that provide information: people have many ways of organizing their lives through the use of visual or supportive aides.  Teaching an individual with special needs strategies for organizing and communicating more effectively give them more independence in life.
  • Calendars and daily planners.
  • Guides for television or movie theaters.
  • Shopping list.
  • Maps to negotiate through their environment.
  • Items like telephone books and other aids to find things.
  • How to do instructions like cooking receipts and working a DVD player.

Specially Designed Tools to Meet Specific Needs: Many people use tools such as these in their daily life to help keep them organized and prepared for each day.  Individuals with autism need the same thing but changed to meet their specific needs.  It may mean changing the visual support to pictures, breaking down the task to smaller steps or providing communication aides to help them express their needs.  Through the use of visual supports, individuals with autism as well as other communicative disorders can learn, grow and move through their world more independently.

Join us through Communication A to Z as we continue to cover many topics such as visual supports, communication, positive behavior supports, education as well as parent advocacy just to name a few.  Let us know if you are interested in a specific area as well.  We are here to help.

Why do Visual Supports Help Individuals with Autism?

Toddler PECS Book

Visual supports are things you can see.  They include body language, natural environmental cues, schedules and calendars as well as things that are specifically designed to meet an individuals specific needs.  Visual supports allow individuals with communicative disorders such as autism, organic brain syndrome and developmental disabilities enhance their ability to communicate and understand what is expected of them.  Through the use of communicative aids individuals with autism can enhance their ability to communicate with people in their circle, improve effective receiving of information as well as processing information.  Visual cues are also important aides to promote independence and provide a means to allow individuals to express themselves in more appropriate ways.

• Body Language includes: Communicative messages are affected by the use of natural body language and help clarify messages.  The ability to understand the body’s natural signals can significantly affect an individual’s ability to understand others communicative message.
  

  Social Stories

• Facial expressions.
• Where the body is in location and orientation to the environment.
• The way a person stands.
• The movement a person makes in relation to their body.
• It includes reaching, touching and pointing at things.
• The way you look at someone, eye contact, the shift in eye gaze.

• Natural Environmental Cues: There are many natural cues around us.  It is important to be able to interpret their meanings in relation to the environment to help us function more effectively as well as more independently in the world around us.
  • The way we arrange our environment such as furniture.
  • The way people or objects move throughout the environment.
  • Signs, signals and other printed items that direct, or provide information.
  • Written or visual messages that provide instructions, choices or even menus at restaurants.

Activity Schedules

• Organizational materials that provide information: people have many ways of organizing their lives through the use of visual or supportive aides.  Teaching an individual with special needs strategies for organizing and communicating more effectively give them more independence in life.
  • Calendars and daily planners.
  • Guides for television or movie theaters.
  • Shopping list.
  • Maps to negotiate through their environment.
  • Items like telephone books and other aids to find things.
  • How to do instructions like cooking receipts and working a DVD player.

Specially Designed Tools to Meet Specific Needs: Many people use tools such as these in their daily life to help keep them organized and prepared for each day.  Individuals with autism need the same thing but changed to meet their specific needs.  It may mean changing the visual support to pictures, breaking down the task to smaller steps or providing communication aides to help them express their needs.  Through the use of visual supports, individuals with autism as well as other communicative disorders can learn, grow and move through their world more independently.

Join us through Communication A to Z as we continue to cover many topics such as visual supports, communication, positive behavior supports, education as well as parent advocacy just to name a few.  Let us know if you are interested in a specific area as well.  We are here to help.

What is an Activity Schedule?

Many of us use a schedule or calendar to keep us organized each day.  An activity schedule is a set of words/pictures or both that cue an individual to follow a sequence of activities which is like a schedule or calendar that is specific to their special needs.  Once an individual is able to master the use of an activity schedule they are more independent and have purpose in what they do at home, school, work, and leisure with reduced assistance from others.  Furthermore, activity schedules promote choice; helps decrease unwanted behaviors and help individuals stay on task more efficiently with less assistance from others.

Activity schedules are simple teaching tools that enable individuals with autism or developmental disabilities to accomplish activities more independently and with less adult intervention. There is a long history of research evidence that activity schedules are effective and powerful tools for helping individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities in the promotion of independence, enhance ability to transition from one activity to another more effectively, communicate their needs and engage in leisure activities with less assistance from others. Providing individuals activity schedules promote visual learning and understanding of what is expected of them and creates an environment that allows independence and improved self management.

I Can Brush my Teeth

My Daily Schedule

Activity schedules are great tools for teaching:

• Academics- allows the child to follow the transitions with the class, understand what is expected of him and helps communicate his needs more effectively.
• Individual visual or written cues that are spefice to each part of a task such as hand washing promote independence because the person doesn’t need to rely on others to prompt them to complete the task.  They learn quickly to follow their schedule and enjoy the freedom and independence it brings.
• Functional living skills like brushing your teeth and getting dressed.
• Vocational skills such as the sequence to follow to ship an item.
• Socialization- appropriate ways to engage other people around you.
• Behavior- how to calm yourself down or respond appropriately.
• Transitions- this allows the person to know what is next so he is able to transition more effectively.
• Cooking- how to make a simple peanut butter and jelly sandwich.
• Communication- provides cues for ways to express themselves.
• Choice making- individuals can also use their schedules to make choices in what they would like to do or the order they would like to do them in.  This is very motivational and increases self esteem and desire to follow the program.
• Self management- allows the individual to manage his own life more effectively in all areas of life including things that may be less desirable.

There are many ways to create activity schedules to meet the needs of the child or adult in your life.  Through the use of a flip book, wall chart, pocket calendar and even a small wallet they can thumb through during the day, providing a means for individuals to be more independent in life only enhances their desire to interact more effectively with the world around them.

Check out our website at www.communicationatoz.net to learn more about activity schedules and how they can work for you.

The State of California and New Elder and Dependent Abuse Changes as of 2013

Check out the link to for more information.  We will be providing training in this area to all the homes we serve and will be posting more information later this week in regards to what this all means

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB40

About Communication A to Z

We believe that every person has the right to the same opportunities regardless of their disability.  We specialize in teaching communication  and skill development in a positive environment that promotes the skills individuals need to become more productive and independent in life while reducing or eliminating existing challenging behaviors.  We work with individuals of all ages and developmental needs in school, home and residential facility’s.

The Goal of Communication A to z

We believe that every person has the right to the same opportunities regardless of their disability.  We specialize in teaching communication  and skill development in a positive environment that promotes the skills individuals need to become more productive and independent in life while reducing or eliminating existing challenging behaviors.  We work with individuals of all ages and developmental needs in school, home and residential facility’s.