I mentioned several days ago that Bubba was diagnosed with some sensory and socioemotional problems. One of these problems is his inability to act appropriately when presented with certain situations. This is where social stories can come in handy.
Social stories give accurate information about situations that a child might find difficult or confusing. The situation is described in detail and stresses a the important social cues, the events and reactions the child might expect to occur in the situation, the actions and reactions that might be expected of him, and why. The goal of the story is to increase the child’s understanding of and make him more comfortable in the situation.
A situation we’re currently prepping Bubba for is wearing glasses. He was just diagnosed yesterday as being near sighted and having an astigmatism in his left eye. With his sensory issues, he’s highly sensitive to having anything on his face. You should see the world war that goes on at night in the bath tub when we go to wash his hair. Holy moo.
The story looks a little like this:
Bubba’s eyes are sick so mommy and daddy are buying him a pair of glasses. He will put them on his face so that his eyes can look through them. Bubba’s nose and ears might feel funny and his friends, family, and toys might look silly at first, but it’s very important that Bubba keeps his glasses on his face. The glasses will make his eyes feel better and Bubba will be happy that he can see his toys and friends and family with no problem.
Simple clip-art pictures accompany the story and we’ve also been having him look through a magnifying glass just to prep him for the possible changes his eyes may go through. We pick up his glasses right after we get back from Disney World.
Here’s hoping this social story hits its mark!
