Over the past month, I have been visiting the Carol Gray
Center in Zeeland, Michigan. If you ever have the chance to visit, you will be
amazed at the wealth of resources available for children with autism. From DVDs
to reference books to books written by people who have autism, you can check
out up to seven items a week for a yearly fee of $10. I have taken advantage of
the lending library many times, checking out items specifically related to
visual supports for social skills. In this post, I will share some of the items
that I checked out from the Carol Gray Center as well as some others that I
have used over the years.
For those of you who are not familiar with Carol Gray,
she is a visionary in the field of autism spectrum disorders. Carol is the
creator of Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations, two different visual
story templates for children with autism to assist in use of appropriate social
skills. She is currently the Director of The Gray Center for Social Learning
and Understanding in Zeeland, MI. Carol also has 22+ years of experience
working as a teacher and consultant for students with autism spectrum disorders
at Jenison Public Schools.
So what is a social story? Social stories follow specific
guidelines and criteria including the child’s name, a specific situation to the
child, social skill, and cues, perspectives, and responses of adults/peers. The
objective of social stories should not be seen as negative or a way to change a
person’s behavior, but a way to help the person gain understanding of a
situation and social expectations/responses. Stories can be made to reduce
anxiety prior to visiting a place that the person has not been to before, help
a student learn specific vocabulary/conversation used in specific situations,
and understand outcomes associated with specific behaviors. Some examples of
social stories can be found on The Gray Center’s website: http://www.thegraycenter.org/social-stories/what-are-social-stories
Comic Strip Conversations are similar to social stories
with a greater visual emphasis. In addition, these also emphasize
conversational interactions between peers and adults. There are specific
visuals and colors used within Comic Strip Conversations such as speech bubbles
to show if a person or group is speaking, thought bubbles to show a persons’
thoughts or perceptions, colors to show various emotions, and text size to show
the volume of a persons’ voice.
At the end of the DVD, Marcia Garcia Winner discussed
other resources she had created to assist with social skills. Another visual
support included Sticker Strategies – Practical Strategies to Encourage Social
Thinking. In this book, there are sticker labels with reminders of social
strategies that can help people with autism throughout the day. Stick them on a
notebook, note cards, and more! The latest edition comes with a CD to print and
re-print these stickers! Some topics include asking for help, emotions, and organization.
Visuals do not always have to involve static displays.
They can be flowing, moving, and involve audio – such as via video modeling. In
video modeling, an instructor can video tape peers/adults interacting with each
other, showing the appropriate/inappropriate behaviors, display nonverbal
communication, and record verbal, conversational interactions between
peers/adults. An instructor can also video tape a person with autism practicing
appropriate social interactions.
There are many social story and socially conscious
applications on the Apple Store market. Some of these include: Social Stories,
I Create…Social Skills Stories, Touch Autism applications, Wonkido
applications, The Social Express, Social Skills Builder, Social Skills Sampler,
TherAd for Autism, Stories2Learn, Social Adventures, Social Skills, What Would
You Do At School If…, What Would You Do At Home If…, How Would You Feel If…,
Practicing Pragmatics Fun Deck, Hidden Curriculum for Kids, Hidden Curriculum
for Adults, School Skills, iModeling Boundaries, Social Navigator, Mi-Stories,
Sosh, and Life Skills Winner.
There are also many books available with pre-created
social stories/scripts. Linguisystems has some great Autism & PDD books. Of
course, Carol Gray created a book of social stories titled “The New Social
Story Book”. Finally, there are some great visual supports for social skills in
the Social Skills Picture Books by: Jed Baker.
I hope that this post was helpful for you to find various
visual materials to assist with teaching social skills. Please feel free to
visit my website at http://consonantlyspeaking.com
for more therapy ideas, materials, information, app/product reviews, giveaways,
and more! You can also follow my updates on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest!
