Social Story

     This was a difficult task for me.  I have a Mac at home and didn't have access to a different type of computer.  My video is a social story about crossing the street.  With the animations and music it has edited the video a little weird but it is all their.  This was a difficult task but the idea and outline of crossing the street comes across in the video.  This tool could be very helpful for students who need to look at something while reading to fully understand.  As I said walk their was a picture of a child walking, stop their is a stop sign, and look left their is a person looking to the left.  This helps children to understand what the word or phrase means and gives them help with knowing what to do in the situation.  If a child has trouble understanding certain actions a picture helps them.  Instead of hearing look right and left and having difficulty than can look at this social study and understand what the action look left and look right mean.  Overall I think this is a good tool to use in the classroom.  You can use it for any type of student and in any situation.  A social story can have any topic and can be used in any way you want in the classroom, with any technology available.
     "Require a more intensive intervention to make gains in the social area.  For students who have difficulties initiating and maintaining interactions, teachers can implement more structure in the environment to gain a student's interest and encourage peer interactions."  Throughout this article by Cori More it describes that children are constantly interacting with their environment and through this they form opinions and concepts about the world.  Children tend to learn by imitating actions and cuing into subtle social cues.  Their are those children who have trouble acquiring social skills and this is why social stories come into play.  Delays in social skills can not only affect a child inside the classroom but outside as well.  Social stories "can meet the diverse needs of learners by combining visual cues with verbal cues."  These are highly looked upon because they gain independence, increase engagement with peers, and decrease disruptive behaviors.  They especially help social and academic skills.  One great thing about social stories is that they are created for specific students.  This helps meet the needs of each individual learner.  It creates extra practice of skills and increased communication between parents, teachers, and children.  Social stories are important for students with disabilities because they take complex skills and break them into smaller components that are more easily understandable.  "They engage children, using information that is directly related to each child's unique experience."