Do you ever wonder when you ask your child to go and brush their teeth or make their bed, they don’t seem to understand? Using stories to teach your children can help them learn new skills.
This is because children at a young age have difficulty processing information that is presented in an abstract sense. The concept of making a bed, or brushing your teeth is the title for a list of specific activities. For kids that have difficulty with attention, processing information or memory these activities can be challenging for them.
What really helps a child to understand and learn is when you break down an activity into its components so that they know the exact steps required to complete the task. Creating stories or sequences of steps can help to teach a child how to complete the task. Here is an example for brushing your teeth:
By using a series of steps, you can teach a child about many different activites. If you are looking for more stories, here is a great link https://www.abaresources.com/social-stories/
By using these stories you can practice each step with your child. You can work on memorizing the sequence with your child or you can role play the task to practice before you need to actually complete the activity.
This method is a great way to learn a new task or practice a skill including activities like how to talk to talk to friends, how to make a sandwich or how to tie your shoes. You need to have a sense of how specific each instruction needs to be for your child and build from there.
This is also the first step in getting a child who has difficulty processing sensory information. The next step would be to turn on taps to learn the different sounds and touch the different textures in a safe environment.
A great app that is available right now is called Magus Cards. It has stories and pictures for very specific locations such as airports, buses, libraries as well as daily activities such as teeth brushing. It is great for older children who are able to use a phone or device independently.
If you are interested in learning more about how to make or integrate social stories into your child’s life, reach out and we can work with you to design some for you child’s needs.
