Can the key elements of this skill be appropriately depicted and connected in a social narrative?
A social narrative might be used to address a number of sub-skills within this larger topic: Coping with the stress some students feel when they miss school or work due to illness, contacting the supervisor to call-in (how to do it appropriately and why), how the supervisor might perceive an employee who misses work repeatedly without good excuses, etc.
Based on the student’s needs and interests, and based on the targeted skill and related concepts, what type of social narrative should you develop – a situational story, coping comic, thought story, and/ or coping card?
A student who does not enjoy reading may not respond well to a paragraph-form social narrative, but may have more success with an illustrated comic-style approach. Here are just a few ideas on how you might address aspects related to this topic using social narratives.
This situational story is designed for the student who becomes stressed or agitated when he has to miss work:
This coping comic depicts how the employee should call in sick to his supervisor:
Finally, this thought story might be used to depict how an employer views the employee’s behavior:
How can you visually or thematically incorporate the student’s interests and preferences into this social narrative to increase motivation and engagement?
Some students enjoy being their own featured star! One activity can be to take photos of the student to use in his own thought story or coping comic. There are many ways to incorporate photos of the student in social narratives, such as printing out the photos and pasting cut-out speech bubbles on to the photographs, then pasting the “frames” into a comic strip. It is also suggested that you explore computer software and mobile applications since there are many inexpensive options designed just for this activity.
What additional visual clarity cues (e.g. images, bolding, highlighting) might you add to the social narrative to support comprehension and to promote attention to key details?
Can you design the narrative so that it might not only be used in practice settings, but also reviewed independently by the student in generalized settings?
Some social narratives for this topic, such as the examples above, can be kept within an “If I’m Sick” folder. For example, the student may be taught a process for when he does not feel well and may need to call-in. This would involve going to the folder that perhaps is organized so the first item/page is the coping comic “When I feel sick…” followed by a script or instructions list for the situation and contact information for work.
In order to align this intervention topic area with the unique needs of the student, do you need to create a social narrative in the View2do program?
