Teaching Social Skills at school
One of the best tips I ever got was to put a social-skills goal into my child’s IEP. I had to push a little, but as parents of children with autism, we know we have to push!
School is tough. It brings a huge sensory bombardment, transitions from one activity to another, constant need to co-regulate with peers and teachers, academic demands, just DEMANDS in general! Add in the inability to take breaks, engage in stimming, and regulate their environment- school can be really stressful to a child with autism. One strategy that we have found to deal with the social pressure and situations at school are social stories.
Social stories are a valuable tool for teaching social rules, norms, and expectations of a situation.
This technique was developed by Carol Gray to help children read and understand social situations. It teaches appropriate social behaviors in the form of a short story. These stories can be tailored to an individual child or teen and tailored to a specific situation.
[player url=”http://autismsupportnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Social-stories.mp3″]Social Stories[/player]
A great site to find help with social stories is www.livingwellwithautism.com/social_stories
Here’s an example of a social story from Living Well With Autism
