Social Stories 101

Social Stories.  We say it a lot, but do you know what they actually are and how they can help your students?

What are Social Stories:

 The concept of Social Stories is attributed to Carol Gray. She began developing the concept in the 1990's and if you look on her website she has a few articles explaining the history.  In short, a social story is a learning tool that is used to provide social supports for individuals. Social Stories are evidence-based and help the individual using the social story understand some of the little things in life that we often know innately. If you are doing a true Social Story, then you follow Carol Gray's protocol.  Honestly, I think the ones I write do not follow the protocol, but they work!

Why should I use Social Stories with my students:

Social Stories are great ways to help students understand expectations, routines, behaviors in a specific situation.   Social stories can provide visual/pictorial examples of expectations and are usually in story form which makes them more interesting to our students. 

Which students should I use Social Stories with?

All of them!  Ok, so I know typically we that that social stories should be used for students with Autism, but I have found that they work with all of my students.  Sometimes, just have those expectations written out is a reminder of what the student should be doing. 

How do I write social stories?

I promise it is not as hard as it seems.  A great way to start is a good old google search for social stories on ou specific topic.  I usually don't find exactly what I need, but I then can sometimes get some ideas and make the story fit my situation. I like to use real pictures and will go around taking pictures of set up situations for pictures to demonstrate what behavior I want.  For instance, I have a student who is having a lot of difficulties getting on the bus.  My first step was to take a picture of the bus drive, bus aide, the seat the student sit in, and the bus.  I then was able to write the student a story about getting on the bus, riding to school, getting off to see all their friends and having fun at school.  Guess what?  Getting on the bus has been much easier.  

If you want to know more about the prescribed way of writing a Social Story, this article from PBISWORLD is useful. 

I wrote it, now what?

Introduce the story to your student in a non-stressful time.  For example, a story about how we handle name calling should not be presented for the first time as a reaction to the student being called a name.  It should be introduced beforehand so the student is familiar with the story.  It can then be pulled out in that specific situation.  The story should also be reviewed at various times to remind the student of the expected behavior.  I often keep a copy of the story in the student's desk or book box, a copy in my classroom and I send a copy home.  This provides lots of opportunities to practice the skills and allows parents to be an active participant. 

Where can I find more information?

Here are some websites where you can find out more about Social Stories or find some examples:

• Carol Gray Social Stories
• PBIS World Social Stories
• Speaking of Speech: Examples
• One Place for Special Needs: Lots of Examples and info

Cooking in ECSE and K-2 classroom

I love working on cooking skills in the classroom.  I am sure you are wondering.... What can you do with these little ones?  So much!!

Besides teaching basic life skills that our students will need for the rest of their lives, this is also a perfect opportunity to teach new vocabulary (ingredients, slice, mash, stir, etc.).  In addition, you can work on kitchen safety and health skills such as washing hands and proper use of a knife.  My students also use this opportunity to work on social skills as we often share our creations with school staff in the building.



 Here are just a few of the various activities you can do with your students.

Dirt/Sand
This is a great activity to start with because it does not involve anything hot.  Just lots of stirring and mashing!  We use instant pudding, chocolate cookies (usually Oreos or a knock off of Oreos), milk, and gummy worms.  If you have never made dirt before, check out this post for directions and how we did this in a K-2 room.  I have also made dirt with my preschoolers, you can see some of that by clicking here!

During ESY, we like to make sand instead of dirt.  This is an easy spin on the dirt activity using vanilla pudding, vanilla wafers cookies, and a beach umbrella.  You could also add gummy fish aka Sweedish fish.

Making Lemonade
Another simple starter activity is making lemonade.  With this activity, we work on measurement, pouring, and stirring.  If you would like to see more pictures of this activity in action check out this post. 

Kabobs
Making kabobs is a great way to also work on patterns and counting.   I like to use fruit for this activity because it is generally easier to put on sticks and kids usually like it.  I often use bananas and strawberries.  The kids need to peel the banana and cut it up.  I also have them take the stem/leaves off of the strawberries.  Depending on the group we will also cut up the strawberries.  Next, the kids count out how many of each fruit they need and make a pattern on their stick.  To see more of this activity, click here.

I have other posts about cooking that you can find by clicking on the cooking tag on the left  Be sure to follow me on Instagram and Facebook also as I often post pictures, but may not do a blog post!

Experience books

Experience books are books made to remember something you did in class such as go on a scavenger hunt or items you collected on a field trip.  They enable students to re-live the experience with the actual objects to look at and feel.

To start collect your items.  Put one item  ( or a collection depending on the type of book you are making) in a bag.  Close the bag, making sure to get the air out.  The opening of the bag will be on the right side (to act as the spine of the book).  Be sure to close each bag tightly.  Make sure to include a title page!  I got the idea for this book and title page from Pre-Kinders.

Once you have all of your bags filled put them in order and add one or two staples to the spine.  I put my staple in the middle of the bag openings(spine).  I actually did two sets of bags with this book so that not to many were together.  

Next add tape to the "spine" to bind all of the pages together.  I use fun Duct tape to make it a little bit more interesting. Make sure you add a few pieces and it is secured well. Also, make sure you have the staples covered so they don't poke anyone! 

Last, let your students enjoy reading the book!

Sign Language

When working with beginning communicators I start using basic sign language right away.  (My own boys are no exception to this!) I will usually relate the sign language to the basic need of eating and start with the sign for more.  As the student grasps that these motions I am making with my hands mean something, then they will begin to use the signs also.  

To help students learn I have sign language in various areas of my room and also as my students PECS pictures.  Some of the words I teach include more, help, thank you, please, and sorry.  Also during circle time I sign the days of the week during the days of the week song, colors and letters.  Not only do my beginning communicators learn a way to express themselves, but my other students love learning another way to communicate.  

Do you use sign language in your classroom?  How do you use it?

Beginning communicators

It seems that every year I am working with at least one child who is a beginning communicator.  I am always looking for new ways to teach and more information to teach myself and others how to best work with theses students.  I stumbled upon this great series by  PrAACtical AAC about Pre-intentional communicators.  I highly suggest that you go check it out at PrAACtical AAC.

In my classroom I use a combination of PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), American Sign Language, and Augmentative communication devices to facilitate communication with my students. Over the next few posts I am going to talk about what I use and what I have found successful.  I hope that these posts will help others when working with beginning communicators.   Make sure you are following via email, bloglovin', facebook or Twitter so that you can keep up to date on all of the upcoming posts!!

Social Skills and Academics using board games

Social Skills seems to be a topic that in special education we always need to work on.  I love using board games or other types of games to work on social skills in my classroom.  With these games we can address turn taking, sharing, conversation, fine motor skills, color recognition, sight words, numbers, and the list goes on and on.  I often buy my games at the thrift store instead of paying full price.  For example, yesterday, I picked up Spiderman Monopoly for my boys for only $2.50.   When we opened it, the only problem (which really is not a problem at all) was that it had some extra money from a Littlest Pet Shop Monopoly game.  I do recommend if you can, check the pieces before you buy a game.  I have bought a game before to get home and find the pieces are missing.

Some of the games I use weekly include Candyland and Trouble.  In Candyland you can play by the normal rules and work on color recognition and counting or you can add some sight words to the cards and add another level of learning.   You can sometimes find extra cards for Candyland at the thrift store and you can then adapt those.  You can also find premade cards on teachers pay teachers.   This set by Deana from Primary Punch works on tons of math skills with lots of room for differentiation.
 

Trouble allows us to work on number recognition, counting, and fine motor (pushing down on the dome thing).  We play only using one piece per player.  This makes the game go much quicker.

Do you use board games in the classroom?  I would love to hear what you use and if you adapt it at all.

puzzles

We do a lot of puzzles in my classroom. Puzzles work on fine motor skills, orientation, and also social skills. Sometimes I will have the kids all work on one big puzzle together. However a few days ago they each were working on their own. This provided the opportunity to ask each other for help (I am sure if you read the post about making lemonade then you now have realized that we are working on asking peers for help instead of adults). I keep a lot of different puzzles in my room so that there is variety and a puzzle that everyone can be successful at.

 

Making Lemonade

 Sometimes the simplest activities can be the most fun!  This past week for our cooking activity (life skills, measurement  reading) we made lemonade and then delivered it around the building (social skills & communication) and the kids loved it! It was so easy, but we got so much out of it.

We started with gathering the items we would need.

Next the kids tried to open the container of lemonade mix.  This was difficult and I had them ask each other for help before they could ask me. 

We read the directions and decided how much mix we would need.  Then each person took turns pouring the mix into the pitcher. 

Next we read to find out how much water we needed.  We then took turns filling up the measuring cup and pouring the water in. 

Then it was time to mix.

Finally, we were ready to drink up!!

Social Skills: Question of the week

Each week on Tuesday my students do a "Question of the week". They each have a sheet with a question on a clipboard.   We practice asking the questions in the classroom to each other.   Next, We walk around the school (usually to the front office, cafeteria, nurses office, etc.) and ask our question of various people. Some students do this verbally while others use a communication device. This activity allows us to practice social skills by giving students the opportunity to start a conversation with someone by asking a question. Some students record the answers themselves, while others will ask the person to record the answer.

I have the sheets printed out and in a folder all ready to go a few weeks ahead of time.  I have found a lot of great questions on Make Learning Fun (if you have not checked out this website, I love it!  Lots of great ideas on lots of topics).  There is section called Question of the Day. The questions cover all types of content and I often am able to find one that fits in with our current theme.

I have received a lot of positive feed back from our question of the week as it allows others to get to know my students more and allows my students to become more comfortable talking to various people in the school building.

March Shapes

Every month we practice a different skill using shapes. I have shown this before in one of my sight word posts.

This month we have community signs on shamrocks. We also have a few coins thrown in there with an American symbol or two. Just trying to keep it crazy interesting.

Sometimes I use these as flashcards, but most of the time I spread them out on the carpet and call one out for the kids to find.  This is a great way to work on receptive language.  Occasionally I will have one  student  tell the others what to find.   Now we are throwing some expressive language in there.   This also provides the opportunity to work on some gross and fine motor skills.  The kids needs to bend over to pick up the shapes and I usually make them out of thinner paper so they need to really use their fingers and pincer grasp to pick them up.

I love activities that practice multiple skills at one time!!

Valentine's Day(week) Activities

Wow! It feels like February is just flying by! We did a few different activities to celebrate Valentine's Day that I wanted to share.

We used the Valentine Hearts to practice sorting by color and counting.  When we started sorting I realized there was not enough of the hearts to sort onto for the colors we had.  I decided just to wait it out and see what the kiddos did.  It was really interesting to watch.  One made his own spot on the paper to add his blue hearts and one of the others decided to put his hearts on his neighbors pile of yellow hearts.   What great problem solving!

We made cards for our parents by taking a coffee filter heart and using washable markers to color it.  Then we used a water sprayer (I can not think of the name of it right now) and squirted our hearts.  I put the heart on a cookie sheet when the kids sprayed so that I could try to contain some of the water.  Of course I forgot to take a picture of this!! After the hearts dried we glued them onto a piece of pink paper and decorated them.

We also made cards for various people in the building.  I used the die cut to cut out hearts and then made labels that said Happy Valentine's Day!  The kids then stuck the labels onto the hearts.  We put them in a basket and delivered them to our office staff, past teachers, etc.  The kids had to hand it to the person and say Happy Valentine's Day.  This activity helped to work not only on fine motor(putting the stickers on the heart), but also communication and social skills. Of course I completely forgot to take pictures of the hearts.


We also have been using hearts to practice our numbers.  Similar to the way we practice our sight words with shapes on the floor.  We do the same thing with numbers.   I used the same hearts as last year and it made me realize how far some of my kids have come.  Last year I had a student working on numbers 1-5.  This year that student was finding all of the numbers for 20-30.  Amazing!