Stories, stories, stories – Social Stories and Sensory-focused Stories

Social Stories are tools that can be used to help children and adults understand their social environment. Although they were originally developed for use with children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Social Stories have also been used with success with adolescents, and adults with ASD and other social and communication delays and differences. ANYONE who is having difficulty in a social situation can benefit from using a Social Story to learn how to respond appropriately.

Sharing stories are part of everyday life.  We do this in many ways such as chatting to friends, reading books, watching movies, attending plays and interacting with others via email or Skype. How do we make stories come alive for people who have profound intellectual and multiple disabilities (PIMD)? This half day workshop will show you how to develop individualised sensory-focused story experiences for people with PIMD.

Social stories can be used:

• To prepare someone for new events and experiences e.g. Moving to a new house 
• To teach positive behaviour e.g. When going out shopping with Mum 
• To teach a new skill e.g. How to wash your hands

Are you working with someone who could benefit from a visual explanation of how to respond in a social situation? Is this person able to understand pictures?

This workshop will help you to:

• Understand what a social story is 
• Write a social story for someone you work with
• Write a *NECAS application to get your story produced!

*Non-Electronic Communication Aid Scheme

This workshop will also provide information about sensory-focused story telling including

• the concept of sensory-focused story experiences
• sensory-focused story resources
• and strategies for
• formatting sensory-focused story resources 
• developing other sensory-focused activities

Target audience

• Direct support staff
• Teachers
• and interested others

Presenters

Barbara Solarsh and Mandy Williams

Barbara works at the Communication Resource Centre and is a Regional Communication Service speech pathologist for the Southern Loddon Mallee Regional Communication Service. She works very closely with 10 Communication Coordinators in day services and over 40 Communication facilitators in community residential units (CRUs) and has seen first hand how useful social stories can be and what a useful skill it is for staff to have.

Mandy has worked for over 35 years in the disability sector. She has a particular interest in sensory processing disorders and participation in everyday activities for people with profound intellectual and multiple disabilities. She has presented nationally and internationally on these topics. She co-edits the ECAPSS newsletter with Susan Fowler and has written a number of articles and the book “Activities for Everyone: Art and Craft”. Mandy is an Accredited Occupational Therapist and a member of the Communication Resource Centre team – a service of Scope (Vic) Ltd.