Nicole’s Column: Social Stories
Foreword by Kelly
Much of parenting consists of trial and error, finding a combination of strategies that work for every child individually. Nicole shares a concept I know I will use, especially with my children with special needs. Training becomes a activity the entire family can enjoy. How brilliant is that?! Read on, read on.
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The benefits of reading to children are well documented – improved literacy skills, reinforcement of routine, and bonding time with Mum or Dad. Did you know that reading to your child can also help to reduce anxiety levels, cope with change, and interact better with other kids?
Social stories are stories written specifically for your child to help them through a challenging situation or to correct undesirable behaviours.
Here’s an example:
Five-year-old Bill is scared of the neighbour’s dog. Every time he and his mum walk past the neighbour’s front fence, the dog barks loudly and gives Bill a huge fright. Every time this happens, he cries, and he now gets anxious whenever his mum suggests they go for a walk to the corner shop, which takes them past the neighbour’s house and the big, scary dog.
Bill’s mum could write a Social Story to help better prepare Bill for this situation. She would read the story before they take their walk.
Bill and Mum need to walk to the shops to buy some milk.
They grab their shoes and hats, and walk out the door.
Bill holds Mum’s hand because he knows she will keep him safe.
On the way to the shops, Bill sometimes sees Mr Brown’s cat sunning himself on the driveway.
Mrs White’s budgie is usually on the verandah and George’s dog next door waits by the fence.
George’s dog is big, but can’t hurt anyone because the gate is shut.
George’s dog barks loudly every time he sees Bill because he is excited. This is how George’s dog says Hello.
Bill keeps hold of Mum’s hand and they walk safely together to the shops.
Bill enjoys walking with Mum.
The aim of this story is to prepare Bill for the walk past the dog he is fearful of. By mentioning the things he enjoys seeing along the way, and the fact that when he holds mum’s hand he is safe, Bill should feel less anxious about the situation.
Why do Social Stories work?
Kids respond well to stories, particularly when they are about them and told in the sing song voice with lots of expression we tend to use when telling stories. By using your child’s name and a situation they’re familiar with, you usually have their attention straight away.
Here’s an example of a Social Story that may be used to correct an undesirable behaviour:
Eight-year-old Daisy is quite shy and has developed the habit of poking her tongue out at people when initially introduced to them. Her mum is really embarrassed and has asked Daisy to stop doing this, but the behaviour continues. Daisy’s mum could try reading her a Social Story each night.
Daisy has made lots of new friends this year. She is often invited to go to their birthday parties.
Daisy is always so excited about these parties and plans what dress she will wear, days beforehand.
On the day of the party, Daisy always looks beautiful and she wears a big smile on her face when she first walks through the door to her friend’s home.
Daisy is usually greeted by her friend’s mum or dad. Daisy keeps smiling and when greeted, says “Hello!” Everyone smiles and Daisy is invited inside. Parties are always fun!
The aim of this type of Social Story is to show Daisy the correct behaviour. When the story is repeated, there is more opportunity for the child to learn and remember the desired behaviour.
Social stories can be written by any family member or carer, for any age child for a range of situations. Older children can be asked to contribute to the story or even write it themselves. The story can also be written as a cartoon, with pictures drawn to reinforce the theme. The sky is really the limit.
Have you tried Social Stories with your children? Why, and what was the result?
For more information, refer to these links:
http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/
http://www.thegraycenter.org/social-stories/what-are-social-stories
Nicole is a privately practicing Occupational Therapist (OT) in Brisbane, Queensland. She is mother to 2 beautiful girls aged two and one. More information about Nicole can be found here:
www.nicolegrant.net
www.brissieot.blogspot.com
Other Posts written by Nicole
Relevant Be A Fun Mum posts
Guest Post : Reading
Many of us have wonderful childhood memories of being read to, and reading favourite books. I have a lasting memory of the pride I felt when I read a book in its entirety at the age of 6. It was called Mortimer K Saves the Day! [by R Gelman]. My love of books has been passed on to my children. Too young to read, they both love to turn the pages, and look at the pictures. My eldest, who is not quite three, has a few favourites that she knows by heart, and will ‘read’ the words with amazing accuracy.
Reading difficulties can occur for a number of reasons. It’s a very complicated task, requiring the coordination of a large variety of skills. You need to hold the book, see the book and the words that appear on the page. The book needs to be held up the right way, and a comfortable distance from the eyes. To read words, a recognition of each letter and an understanding of its meaning is necessary, and you need to have an understanding that these letters have specific sounds, and these sounds together form words. You need to scan the words in the correct order, and then there’s punctuation. The English language is complicated with inconsistent spelling and grammar rules. It’s an amazing achievement when our kids master this ability!
The benefits of developing literacy skills are obvious. Reading and writing is a means of communication and form of self expression. During the school years and beyond, reading is important for learning and remembering new information. Every day, information is presented to us in words – forms, contracts, recipes, menus, instructions, directions, addresses, newspapers, and the list goes on.
Here are some tips for helping children to read:
1. Read to your children every day – with enthusiasm! They love this time with you, and you and your child will come to cherish it.
2. When able, get your child to read aloud. Hearing and seeing the words will enhance the learning experience.
3. Expose your child to lots of reading opportunities. This may mean going to the library to find new books to read, helping to find items at the grocery store from a list, identifying street names and signs when in the car.
If your child appears to be struggling with this task, don’t delay in asking for help. This is an important skill to learn. Speak with your child’s teacher, or contact a Speech Therapist or Occupational Therapist for help identifying the possible reason for the delay, and to be provided with strategies to help.
References:
1. Chapter 11: Task Analysis – Reading, B. Ferguson, 2005
2. Task Analysis – an approach to improving literacy and numeracy, J. De Jonge
3. Top 10 Ways to Improve Reading Skills, Peggy isler, Ed.S. and Marge Eberts, Ed.S.
4. Resources for improving literacy
Nicole is a privately practicing Occupational Therapist (OT) in Brisbane, Queensland. She is mother to 2 beautiful girls aged two and one. She’s also written a guest post for Be a Fun Mum about encouraging your child/ren to write here. More information about Nicole can be found at these web addresses:
www.nicolegrant.net
www.brissieot.blogspot.com
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From the Experts
Be A Fun Mum Related Posts
Handwriting: Guest Post
Nicole is a privately practicing Occupational Therapist (OT) in Brisbane, Queensland. She is mother to 2 beautiful girls aged two and one. She’s written a guest post for Be a Fun Mum about encouraging your child/ren to write. She has also done a post about reading. More information about Nicole can be found here:
www.nicolegrant.net
www.brissieot.blogspot.com
Foreword by Kelly
Two years ago, I only had a vague idea what an OT did. Since then, I’ve come to fully appreciate the wonderful job they do and want to highlight the role they can have in a child’s life.
As parents we have goals for our children: we want them to able to read and write; we want them to be able to function in society; we want them to develop physically, mentally and emotionally. It’s easy to focus on goals and forget to give a child the skills they need to obtain them. I know because I’ve done it myself.
Since coming into contact with OTs during treatment for my child with special needs, I’ve strived to break goals down into steps for my children so they can gain skills and work their way up from there. While OTs often help children with special needs, any child struggling in a developmental area can be assisted; from gross motor to social skills.
Handwriting by Nicole Grant
With the increased use of electronic communication devices by children from a very young age, there are less opportunities to practice the age old art of handwriting. Rather than draw and colour, children are preferring to play video games and scroll through music on their iPods. School age children are taught to use a computer for most tasks requiring a written response, and handwriting is limited to practice for only a limited time each day. There are no surprises then, that an increasing number of children are struggling with this skill.
Handwriting is a complex task. Take a piece of paper and write your name across it. With this one seemingly simple action, you have recruited your eyes to see the page, your hand and your pen, and guaged the distance between them. You have used both hands to hold the pen and stabilise the paper. You have activated your memory to recall your name and the formation of each letter. You have used higher neurological functions that enabled you to write each letter at precisely the right spot on the page, and form the letters to ensure they are the correct height, direction and spaced evenly apart. There is a lot more involved, but this starts to paint the picture for you.
From an early age, children show an interest in making marks with things they find around the house. Who has experienced lipstick on the walls? Finger smudges on mirrors? Or mashed potato painted across a highchair tray? This form of play is an example of how children first begin to learn the skills that later become more refined and allow the emergence of handwriting. Children should not be discouraged from ‘practicing’ with a variety of media – within reason of course! A smiley face drawn on the carpet in boot polish may not be acceptable, but why not give your kids some chalk and let them draw away on the driveway? If they are old enough, get them to write their name in chalk under their lifesize chalk outline. There are many ways that children can begin to learn handwriting before they first set their eyes on a blue-lined exercise book.
Most children first learn to draw using crayons, pencils or felt pens. It is important to encourage the correct, age-appropriate pencil grasp. The tripod grasp used for handwriting will usually emerge before the age of 7. Prior to this, a cylindrical grip and then a modified tripod grasp will be seen. Show your child the correct grasp by demonstrating on your own pencil. Move their fingers into the correct position and continue to correct their grasp if their fingers move. Pencil grips are helpful later down the track if the tripod grasp is not established, however these should be used as a last resort.
Upon commencing school, children will need to learn handwriting on lined paper using a pencil. As they progress through each year, they will be required to write for longer periods of time, and eventually fill page upon page of neat, correctly formed letters, words and sentences. By this stage, children often start to dislike writing, which is such a shame. It is an important life skill – necessary for filling out forms, writing lists, and how wonderful is it to receive a beautifully written personal letter or note!?
If your child professes to dislike writing, find out why. Does their hand get sore? Do they struggle with spelling? Are they constantly in trouble for being messy writers? Or is it boring? Here are some tips to help with some of these issues:
1. Start with a warm-up.I often use the analogy of footy players warming up before running onto the field to play. Do some hand stretches or play with playdough or lego to warm up the small muscles in the fingers, hand and wrist.
2. Strengthen the hands. Stronger hands may mean a greater tolerance to prolonged writing. Play with toys that offer some resistance e.g playdough or putty. Swing off monkey bars or climb.
3. Practice. There is a saying that ‘practice makes perfect’. Practice using a pencil on lined paper, but also practice in a variety of other ways e.g writing on a vertically placed whiteboard, or draw letters in flour on the bench or sand on the beach. And practice every day.
4. Make it meaningful. Of course writing a story about Kate’s trip to the Zoo is going to be boring if you’re not Kate, and you’ve never been to a zoo. Write a ‘wish list’ of Christmas presents, or write a letter to Grandma on the prettiest paper you can find. If the subject matter is of interest to the child, they are more likely to persist at the task.
5. Get help. Children all develop differently and at their own pace, but if you have concerns, an Occupational Therapist can help identify why your child may be having difficulty with handwriting, and offer strategies to help.
