Good grief. There's proof aplenty that social stories work on kids of all ages. With short text and plenty of visuals, you can use them on kids with limited language and attention skills.
There are some people that are intimidated by the official prescription for social stories -- the various types of sentences (descriptive, perspective and directive) and the ratio of max 1 directive sentence for every two to five descriptive sentences. So they feel like you have to be an expert to write them. Maybe the staff feels that way? However, there are no studies that show that ratio is in fact necessary for success.
Here's a worksheet for planning a social story.
http://www.frsd.k12.nj.us/autistic/Parent%20Training/social% 20stories%20WORKSHEET.htm
My son is nonverbal and we are not sure how much he understands BUT
social stories work VERY well for him and has gotten him through many difficult situations. We use plenty of pictures to go with the story because he is very visual.
I'm having some conflicts with school at the moment concering placement for Erin. They want her out-placed at a school I don't think is appropriate. I'd like a hold put so we can stay in district until a spot opens at a school I feel is approprite for her. In the meantime, how do we make the most of her classroom where they seem to be struggling.
I suggested some VERY VERY simple social stories.....I use this idea at home, I don't have a printed version, but I tell her over and over when we are going somewhere....example.....
"we are going to the library"
"we have to be quiet" I stress quiet with my voice
"mama will be happy Erin is quiet"
"yeah Erin"
and it works pretty well....never perfect.....but nothing is....
I suggested they do some social stories at school and the respone was " how did you hear about social stories ? Who told you that ? and Erin isn't rady for that"
WTF ?? very defensive and I don;t know why. AND if they are REALLY SIMPLE like that ....how could she not be ready ?
Any thoughts ?
If it worked at home I don't know why they would not want to try it at School. It almost sounds like they are intimidated by you. Maybe you have more knowledge than they do? If you feel your DD understands Social Stories I would try to get it put into her IEP. Also I have worked with some people at my son School that don't like it when I have suggestion, but who knows your child more? You of course. This kind of stuff really makes me upset.If you're already using them and they're helping, then of course she's ready for social stories. Did they give any reasons why they don't feel she's ready?
Thanks all for your thoughts....I have a meeting in 2 weeks to discuss the Speech portion of her IEP ( which I rejected in July) and placement.
thanks for your encouragement......
I know about not helping out with the parent's. Here it's the principal's/superindentent. I hate all 3 of these men! I know from my own experience small classes can be more a sucess cause that person get's more 1 on 1 help. Daniel's class was 8 and 4 staff last year. His reading was 2.8 and went to 4.0 with the Lexia program which his last se didn't have.
We love the modelmekids. com dvd "Time for school" it is real kids modeling social rules of school like listening skills, eye contact, being quiet, circle time..standing in line..ect..It comes with a free cd-rom to print out social strips for social stories. They also have one called "Time for a playdate" just for our kids:) Our speech therapist introduced us to social stories when C was 3. I have to admit that we haven't really used them at home. However, they do use them with him at school. For example, if there is going to be an assembly (major change in school routine) they do a social story for C. I'm suprised that you are getting pushback on this.