Autism Spectrum Team: Social Stories for Social Understanding

1. Autism Spectrum Team Social Stories

2. A technique to Develop Social Understanding Social Stories AS Team

3. Social Understanding • People with an Autistic Spectrum Condition find it difficult to make sense of the world around them. • This includes the behaviours and activities of those who inhabit their world Why?

4. The Triad Differences in: Social Relationships Thought and Imagination Social Communication

5. Theory of Mind • Many do not realize that other people have their own thoughts, plans and points of view. • Often lacks common sense when making social decisions. • May not be able to anticipate what others will say or do in various social situations. • Lack of ‘Theory of Mind’ – Mind blindness .

6. Central Coherence • Seeing the ‘trees, not the wood’ • An inability to see the whole picture • Focus on details

7. Executive Function • The ability to maintain direction and focus in order to achieve a goal. • Poor organisational abilities • Often may be passive or impulsive

8. Personal Autobiographical Memory • Experiencing self • Excellent rote memories for facts, road routes, places • No memory of social situations and their roles in them

9. Why use social stories • Many programmes on the market are aimed at increasing social awareness/ skills. E.g SULP, Talkabout, Socially Speaking. • Often group work and in created situations • Social Stories provide a useful addition to the toolkit. • Are individualised and infinitely flexible to the needs of the child

10. What is a Social Story? • A tool for teaching social skills to people with Autism • Originated in USA in 1993 • Initiated and developed by Carol Gray • Designed to help people with ASD ‘read’ social situations • Aim to provide individual with information about a confusing social situation • Can be personalised to meet individuals needs

11. Aims of Social Stories • To describe a social situation clearly and unambiguously. • To describe the perspective of others involved • To personalise or emphasize social skills needs in that situation • Translate goals into understandable steps • To give support to the young person using appropriate behaviours

12. Social Stories In social situations it answers questions • WHEN? • WHERE? • WHO? • WHAT? • WHY?

13. How to write a Social Story • 1. Picture the goal • 2. Gather accurate information • 3. Tailor the text

14. Introduction, body and conclusion. Answer the ‘wh’ questions Calming reassuring quality to the story. Social Story ratio Write in first person and use present tense Older children may prefer 3rd person Positive language Literal accuracy. Easy text. Motivating format. Guidelines

15. Guidelines • Avoid terms like- Always: use sometimes and usually. Different : another Change : replace New : better or another Will not : Try not • Describe desired responses not problem behaviour. Why not start with one about success • Illustrations

16. Social stories There are five types of sentences used in Social Stories Descriptive sentences Perspective sentences Affirmative sentences Directive sentences Control sentences

17. Descriptive Sentence(who ,where, what they are doing and why they may be doing it) Sometimes a person says, ‘I’ve changed my mind.’

18. Perspective Sentence( provides details about the emotions and thoughts of others) This means they had one idea, but now they have a new idea.’

19. Affirmative Sentence(Contributes to the reassuring quality of the story) This can be a good thing to do

20. Directive Sentence(Suggests the desired response tailored to the individual) I will try to work on staying calm when someone changes their mind

21. Control Sentence(Strategies to remember appropriate response) When someone says, ‘I’ve changed my mind’ I can think of someone writing something down, rubbing it out and writing something new.

22. Implementing a Social Story • Observe and assess the situation • Consider the individuals perspective and avoid assumptions • Eliminate distraction; position self alongside and slightly behind the individual. • Read through twice with the individual. • The person then reads it regularly.

23. Other Ideas • Audiotape/ recordable CD • Video tape • Powerpoint • Digital photos

24. A story can be faded by; • Reducing the number of times a story is read. • Rewriting the story, gradually removing directive sentences from the story. • Social Stories are individualised to the specific needs of the person for whom the story is written.

25. Example 1 When I feel cross

26. I play with my brother I play all sorts of things with him. When I feel cross

27. Sometimes I feel cross

28. And sometimes I pinch my brother This is not a good thing to do.

29. I hurt my brother when I do this. This is not a good thing to do.

30. It’s OK to feel cross.

31. When I feel cross, I can tell Mummy or Daddy Mummy or Daddy can help me.

32. I will try to tell Mummy or Daddy when I feel cross inside. I am cross

33. Example 2 The Car Story

34. When I ride in the car When I ride in the car I wear my seat belt. I try to sit quietly. I can look out of the window or listen to the radio.

35. I sit with my hands on my lap. When the car stops I wait for mummy to walk around and open my door.

36. I wait for mummy to take off my seat belt I hold mummy’s hand while we walk. It is safe to hold hands with my mummy while we walk.

37. Example 3 Making Eye Contact

38. Making eye contact • I talk to lots of different people and they like talking to me. • Usually when people talk to one another they look at the other person. This is called making eye contact and it shows that they are listening to each other. • Most people like it if you look at them when you are talking to them, it makes them feel comfortable.

39. Making eye Contact • Sometimes I find it difficult to look at another person’s eyes and they may think that I am not listening to them. • If I try to look at the space between their eyes, just above their nose, then they will know that I am listening to them and we can talk together. It will make the other person happy to think that I am looking at them and listening. • I will try to look at the space between people’s eyes when we are talking and then we can have a good conversation.

40. What if they don’t work Consider: • Is it a ‘bossy’ story? • Is it too open to potential changes? • Is there a lack of visual clues? • Lack of individualisation? • Targets or Aims not appropriate? • Young person may ‘not like’ content. Try again!!