Holiday Activities & Autism ~ Be Prepared!

Do visitors and the disruption of regular routines present problems for your child?

Try this..................

1)Write a social story about a specific event that you think may be difficult for your child; prepare them ahead of time; create a more predictable environment.

•Be sure to write it in language your child understands.

•If you take great care with use of language when speaking to your child, then write it down the way you might say it.

•Be brief in describing what and/or when, where, why and how of the event.

•Write about who will be there and how everyone will be feeling and how your child will be a part of what is happening

•Describe your expectations.

•Be very positive and don’t make it a list of do’s and don’ts.

•Use lots of visuals: photos, drawings, graphics

•Be creative.

~ This can be one or two pages (age appropriate amounts of text)

~ Make a storybook with a sentence and illustration on each page.

~ Use drawings, graphics, Google images, photos, magazine cut outs)

~ Put it on the computer, maybe a power point presentation.

~ Make a video presentation, even just video tape yourself reading it.

~ Make it a song.

~ Create a comic strip

2)Read this story to your child several times a day up until the event. Have others read the story too. This way you are sure that you and other family members/caregivers are all on the same page with expectations and the message is always the same.

Do you have any tips for parents or educators from your experience with social stories? Or perhaps you have some questions to ask others.........please do comment.