Tough Decisions

Most students with special needs have difficulty with social skills. Social stories are good ways to faciliate the learning of important social skills. In order to personalize the concept for the students, they will create a book throughout the school year containing real life incidents and how to deal with them.

When a difficult situation occurs, an oppoortunity has been presented to learn social skills. Some examples may be cheating or bullying.

As a class, identify the situation and the parties involved. (Names may be changed in order to prevent embarrassment.) Discuss what happened and whether the decisions made were good ones or poor ones. If they were good, have the students collaboratively write a narrative. The narrative should be revised and proofread before being typed into a word processing program or publishing program. The students can then act out the incident and pictures will be taken to illustrate the social narrative. If the decision made was a poor one, discuss what should have been done before writing the narrative and taking the picture. Each "entry" from the class will be printed out and bound to form a classroom book.

Throughout the year, many situations will arise that can be turned into a learning experience. By having the students write a narrative, act it out, photograph it, and compile them, they will not only form skills in language arts through writing, but most importantly will grow as a positive citizen, productive student, and a good friend.