HOW TO KEEP MY BODY CALM? SOCIAL STORY STRATEGIES

This post is a follow up from the blog “How To Use A Story To Cope With Frustration?”

Over the years, I have used many different strategies, the most effective being positive behaviour supports that demonstrate to children positive behaviour will be rewarded. Positive behaviour strategies are easy to implement in classrooms, in the child’s natural environment. There is a growing amount of research indicating when Social Stories are paired with imitation, prompting, priming and positive reinforcement are effective methods of teaching children with ASD ( Cooper, Heron & Heward, 2007; Miltenberger, 2008).

Many children with Autism or behaviours can have difficulty keeping their body calm when they are frustrated or upset. The I Can Keep My Body Calm social story explains to a child what a calm body looks like, explained in simple sentences for easy understanding for the child. Read this book with your child, use the pictures as a prompt to physically demonstrate to the child how to  fold hands and practice a quiet voice, this book is a great resource as  a proactive teaching strategy in the classroom, as part of an ABA program or IEP goal.  It is important to note a social story is not a direct intervention on its own, it is a great tool when paired with other strategies.