Social Narratives:

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 situational story may be helpful in priming the student for behavior change. The story may explain to the student why it is important to self-monitor the quality of their work as well as how to do that. Here is an example of a situational story about turning in a time sheet:

At the end of every two weeks, I need to turn in my time sheet.  If I don’t turn in my time sheet, the office will not know how much I worked and I will not get paid for my work.  In order to get paid on time, I need to turn my time sheet in on time! My monthly calendar will remind me to turn my time sheet in that day.  I can give my completed time sheet to Teresa, or if I cannot find her, I will put it in her mailbox in the mailroom.

Simply, this story clarifies the importance of the ‘hand off’ and what to do.

A thought story or a coping comic could also be used to teach self-monitoring of the quality of one’s work.  A thought story could depict what a supervisor may think if the student submits sub-par work, thereby, illustrating the importance of being able to gauge the quality of their work. The coping comic may show the supervisor’s thoughts in different situations: when the student does sloppy work vs. when the student is double-checking for quality.

How can you visually or thematically incorporate the student’s interests and preferences into this social narrative to increase motivation and engagement?

Is the student interested in a particular character (real or fictional) who completes his tasks (whatever those are) with quality?  Perhaps it would be appropriate to devise a coping card that presents this character endorsing checking work, and describing a step-by-step process to check work before turning it in.  Be sure that the step-by-step process presented in this narrative is highly relevant to the process that the student would use to self-monitor quality of work.

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? 

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?