3 Ways to Practice Social Skills Before the Holidays

The holiday season is now upon us, and it's the most wonderful time of the year! Homemade cookies, hot chocolate, beautiful lights, fabulous celebrations, catchy music, spending time with friends and family and excitement everywhere! It can also be overwhelming...especially for our kids with social communication needs.

I want to take a minute and tell you how I am going to help prepare my kids with social communication needs for some of the situations they might encounter during the holiday season. These kids hold a special place in my heart, and I really, really, REALLY want them to have successful interactions in social situations this holiday season. So we're going to do some practicing, and I've got a few tools to help.

1. This time of year tends to be all about gifts, and for kids (any kid, not just ones with social communication disorders), it's often about the gifts THEY want and hope to receive. My kids with social communication needs really have a hard time understanding that the gifts they most desire are not always good choices for their friends and family. So last year I created this little activity to help them take the perspective of others and select gifts for them that match their age and likes/dislikes. It's called Choose the Right Gift and you can grab it for free in my  TpT Store.

Students use store ads to choose presents for fictional person based on their likes and dislikes, and then share their selections and rationale with the group. This freebie contains 8 half-page worksheets that depict a fictional character, and 2 customizable worksheets.  Here's how I use them:

Give one half-sheet to each student and tell them they will be choosing 2 gifts for the person listed on the page.
Have the students share the name and the age of the person he/she will be “shopping” for with the group. 
Next, have the students share the likes and dislikes of their person.
Show the students a variety of store ads, explaining that each store features different categories of items to purchase. Ask each student to select a store ad/catalog, based on their person’s likes.
Students choose 2 gifts from the ads that match their person’s interests, cut them out and paste them on the gifts at the bottom of the page.
As a group, students share what gifts they selected and why they chose them.

This was a very popular activity with my social skills group last year. I really loved how it helped them to think outside themselves.

2. The second tool I'm going to use is the holiday version of my popular Think Before You Say It activity to help my kids use their social filters in social settings this holiday season.

Kids are given a social scenario card that depicts a situation they may encounter this holiday season along with a negative thought. They will then evaluate and determine if a statement is unkind or disrespectful.

Then, they change that negative thought into a positive, respectful statement and write it on the speech bubble card. We get all kinds of amazing discussion happening when I've used the original version, so I'm expecting this one will be great, too.

3. The last tool I'm going to use is a social scavenger hunt. I've been using social scavenger hunts all school year to work on conversation skills, and they have really been great! The kids have loved them, and their parents have asked for copies for the students to use at home with family and friends. They are part of a mini-unit I am creating to target conversation skills, specifically making small talk, that will be available for purchase after the first of the year.

But I wanted to share this part with you NOW, because it would be so great to use as a party game or a warm-up activity in any group. And it makes kids HAVE to ask each other questions and interact! You don't need to have the mini-unit yet or be working on conversation skills specifically to make this work for you.  It's just a great social activity that I know your kids will love.

Did I mention this sample activity is a FREEBIE in my TpT Store? Go download it, and let me know how it works for you.

Here's to happy, successful social interactions! 

Back to School Scavenger Hunts and I Spy Games

I know it's only the end of July, but I am already planning some of my back to school activities. I have a diverse caseload of kids in preschool through middle school, and I love to find activities that can be adapted to use with almost all of them. My kids just love treasure hunts, I Spy games and racing the clock in timed challenges, so I created this packet to include all three of those motivating activities.

This product features two colorful I Spy! game boards that can be used in a variety of ways.  I like to use them with my preschoolers to target categories, attributes, colors, letter recognition and object function. I just ask them to find "something in the sky" or "an animal that lives in the zoo", and have them cover the item with a checker after its found.

I use these boards in so many ways! I use them with the checklists that are included to find objects belonging to categories, but here are some other ideas:  Adapt it for working on S-blends by having the student say "I spy a ____" while finding each item. Use it to target negatives by finding items NOT in the category listed, and have them say, "A ___ is NOT a ____." or "A ____ DOESN'T have ____." Have the students direct others to find specific objects by describing them. Be creative! 

I've got a couple of older elementary students who struggle with processing information quickly and have difficulty with rapid naming tasks, so I created two rapid naming checklists to go along with each board. 

All you need is a stopwatch (there's probably one on your cellphone), a dry erase pouch to put the I Spy game boards in, a dry erase pen to cross off items as they are found, and a pencil to record the number of items found. I have the students name the items as they find them, often having them state the color of the object as well.

My older kids really love this one! Anytime they can race the clock, they are happy campers. This would be a great activity to target fluency, too.

The second part of this product is the set of five different scavenger hunt lists.  There's a color hunt for the little ones...

...ones that feature object functions, attributes and negatives...

...and one that targets social skills. I've even included an extension activity targeting follow-up questions.

These scavenger hunts are perfect to use one-on-one or with a group, or even for sending home as homework.  I haven't used them with my kids yet, but I just know they'll be a hit!

Want to add these to your back-to-school lesson plans? You can find them in my TpT Store, so just click on over.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Pam

iPad App Review - Conversation Builder

 One of my favorite treatment tools is my iPad.  It is so versatile and can be used with almost any child. I have several favorite apps that I find myself using again and again.  One of them is Conversation Builder by Mobile Education Store.  This is an app that I use with my elementary-aged social thinking kiddos who are working on conversation skills. It is an interactive app that leads a child through a "conversation" with another child, allowing them to practice the art of small talk.  Let me tell you how it works.

A photograph is displayed along with a auditory prompt in an adult male voice who says, "How would you start this conversation?"  There are three possible statements or questions that the child may select, which he or she does by touching it.  The same adult voice provides feedback on the selection by either saying, "That's right.  Now let's record it." or something like, "That's an unusual way to start a conversation.  Try again."  After the child selects the correct question or statement, he records himself saying the selected sentence.  He can play it back by touching "Play last recording" and hear himself ask the question or make the statement.  Then the child touches the "next" button to hear a child's voice respond to his question or statement.  The adult voice then asks, "What would you say next?" as three new choices are displayed.  If the child chooses either of the incorrect statements or questions, the adult voice makes a statement about why it wasn't the best choice and prompts the child to try asking a question.  After the child selects the correct response, he again records himself saying the question or statement.  He then touches Next, which prompts the child voice to respond.  Then the child touches the Play Conversation button to hear the entire exchange.

After the exchange ends, you have the options of playing the conversation again,  saving the conversation, or moving on to a new conversation.

Here's what I like about this app:

1.  It is a great way to lead a child through those tricky small talk situations and to practice ways to introduce themselves into a group activity.  The photographs are bright, appealing, and sure to elicit questions and comments.

2.  You can go through the exchanges at your own pace.  You can discuss each option if you'd like, or you can discuss why the less-preferred response doesn't work.

3. You can listen to the recorded responses and discuss things that make the response sound unnatural, like intonation patterns and rate.  You can then practice new ways to say it and re-record.

4.  You can discuss the conversation after you play it back and talk and let the child give you feedback about his role.  And you can provide feedback as well.

5.  You can extend the conversation by asking the child what he might say next, without the use of prompts.

6.  The settings allow you to have flexibility.  There are 4 levels of play:  1 on 1 - 4 sentence exchange, 1 on 1 - 8 sentence exchange, Group - 4 sentence exchange, and Group - 8 Exchange.  You can also choose if the student or the "peer" (i.e. the pre-recorded child's voice) will be the conversation initiator.

7.  The app has 40 conversations in the Standard Conversation Module, which is what you get when you purchase the app.  You can purchase additional modules, such as Animal Themed Conversations, Holidays, Playground Conversations, and Conversations with Friends around Town, in addition to several others.

I highly recommend this app and hope that you find it as useful as I do.  Two thumbs up to our friends at the Mobile Education Store!