Teacher-made books written for children on topics relevant to the individual 
Why Use Them?

o   Can provide assistance for those children who need help in the transition process 

o   Originally created to support the social and emotional developmental needs of children with autism spectrum disorder, as typically these individuals had a hard time predicting what would happen in social situations 
Creating A Social Story: 

o   Creating a social story includes four elements: 

1.       Specific sentence structure

2.       Descriptive text (most important aspect) 

3.       Perspective (others thoughts/emotions)

4.       Directive (behavioral choices for the intended reader) --> the use of these type of statements should be limited, thus allowing the reader more flexibility in choices

o   Individualized Education Plan 

o   Provides services and support for the child within the context of the school system

o   To ensure that the child has the same opportunity to be educated as his or her non-disabled peer

o   Plan usually viewed annually 

o   Prepares the child to learn alongside his/her non-disabled peers in the school system

IFSPs:

o   Individual Family Service Plan

o   Provides early intervention to meet the unique needs of the child and the family in the child’s natural environment 

o   Plan usually reviewed every 6-months

o   Helps the child to meet developmental goals 

o   Resources used to help kids learn the same material and meet the same expectations as their non-disabled classmates 

o   Example: Allowing child to use a spell-check program for writing assignments 

o   Types of Accommodation: 

1.       Instructional: A change in teaching strategies 

Ex. Providing class notes to student 

2.       Environmental: A change in the physical surroundings 

3.       Assessment: Change the way learning is demonstrated 

Modification: 

o   Children who are too developmentally delayed for their chronological age may be subject to curriculum changes in order to help them succeed 

o   Example: In the case of a spelling test, if the class was given 20 words to study, the student with modifications might only have to study 10 of them 

o   A data collection method that records the number of times a specific behaviour was noticed within a set period of time

Event Sampling: 

o   A data collection method that records an event every time it happens 

o   The individual making the observation should record the observation immediately after the event to avoid forgetting important information 

v  ABC Record: Observers selects a targeted behaviour or situation, then records the Antecedents (what came before), the Behaviour and the Consequences (what came after)

o   Specific, Measurable (see the action/count it/score it), Use Action Words, be Realistic and Time-limited

o   Two Main Types:

1.       Transdisciplinary: Everyone working towards the same goal to support the needing individual

2.       Multidisciplinary: Everyone working towards their own goals regarding the individual in order to support the needs separately

o   Teachers must assess students to determine baseline data in order to begin instructions --> Baseline: knowing where the child starts 

o   Example: Child screams in order to get help from caregiver when asked to put on shoes, does the child not know how to ask for help or is he frustrated because he does not know how to put them on?

o   Three Main Ingredients:

1.       Goal: State of the system that a human wants to accomplish

2.       Task: Activities required, used or deemed necessary to achieve a goal

3.       Actions: Steps required to complete the task (no cognitive processing)