Social Stories

 Today I worked on some social stories for little Bug to help him with mastering a few skills.  For those of you that don't know, a social story is a story you can read with your youngster that gives a walkthrough of behavior and actions in a situation to help your kiddo become more familiar with expectations and also to boost confidence as they see how they are learning an expected behavior.  They are very helpful for children on the spectrum, but they are good for any learning situation with your young child.  Some stories I have done with Mr. Bug in the past have been potty time and bed time.  They can be very detailed and with our little man, it seems to work best that way.  Some things we're working on right now is having him be more responsible of his morning routine, and having an easier time going to church.  Here are how they turned out:

 

 

 Today we will go to church:  I will read this with Bug every Sunday probably about an hour before church to help him mentally prepare for the fact that on this day he is expected to behave a certain way.  Big pictures for each sentence help him manage the list of things he will tackle in this skill.

 

 Here are a few more pages in his story.  The nice thing about making your own stories is that they are tailor made for your child. It's not someone else's cookie-cutter expectations.  You know what your child needs better than anyone else :)

 

 I make sure to give a happy goal in sight for the end of the task so that he has something to look forward to.  This was the most recent picture I had of him eating something lol, but if I want to change the end of the story I always can (ex. At the end we will come home and Mom and I can do a puzzle).  With Bug, for the time being, I won't know if he understands what each page means, but the more we read the story and he follows along, the clearer the expectations are and the less frustration there is in his life which is huge!

 

 

This is Today is a School Day:  This first page signifies that it's not a weekend, so he knows when he wakes up and I read this to him in bed, that he has tasks in front of him and he can expect to get on the bus and go to school after a short period of time.  Here are a few of his tasks. 

 

 Social stories are not necessarily to change the behavior of the child.  For example, Bug has no problem getting on the bus- he loves getting on the bus!  It just helps him to know what's coming up next and what the expectations are.

 

Last but not least, his item to look forward to.  Really, school is what he looks forward to, but he knows that his school day comes to an end, and the next time he sees me, and perhaps his next social story, will be when he comes home from school- so that's where I leave it.  Now to make this more enticing for him, I could say "when I get home I will be able to pay on my Ipad" but Bug has no problem with going to school right now so I can leave it with just getting to see mom ;) which obviously is not as great as the Ipad, but why list the greater reward if it's not needing at the time being eh?   Of course I laminated each page and I will probably hole punch each as well and put them all together with a ring so that they stay in the order I want.   Have questions about social stories and how they could help you and your child communicate?  Ask away :)

 

 

 

 

Course I couldn't resist posting what missy Bee looked like tonight at bedtime when she was supposed to be going to sleep! That trixy minx!

 

 

 

NOTD 

 I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White as a base, and then I cut out the pattern for my tips from my tape, and put it over the white.  Then I used Rimmel London Lasting Finish Pro and painted over the whole nail-one coat, immediately pulled off the tape toward freshly-painted color, and there you have it :)

Over and Out