Social Stories
This activity is especially designed to help autistic children understand what to expect in a specific social situation or an upcoming event, which has proven to be difficult for them to cope with in the past, like riding the school bus or participating in a class activity. The teacher’s role in this activity is to assist the students in writing a story, in which they describe in detail what the upcoming event or situation is and how the children should act when it occurs. These social stories can be looked at as a scenario, to which the students may refer in order to know what to do step by step. The stories should: (a) define a specific target behavior of concern, (b) identify an appropriate replacement behavior, (c) be written from the child's perspective, and (d) include pictures or drawings to help the child relate to the desired behavior
Picture Exchange Communication System
The Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) is another way in which a teacher can help their autistic students better their communication skills and language development. PECS is a program that facilitates communication through the exchange of various objects, symbols, drawings and even pictures that display emotions. “The three instructional phases of PECS teach a child to (a) request an item or activity by giving a corresponding picture, symbol, or object to his/her partner, (b) generalize the activity by bringing the request symbol to the partner who may be located in different areas of the room, and (c) discriminate between two different request symbols before bringing it to the partner”. In PECS the student learns how to participate in the activity by observing their teacher perform the target behavior. “It is important to create symbols that are significant and personal to the child, which will accurately communicate what the child is requesting”.