We had a friend from PreSchool over yesterday for a playdate and I realised that Heidi had no idea what to do with her friend when he was outside the environment she was familiar seeing him in.
Heidi has been doing so well with her social skills that I’m ashamed to admit that it hadn’t even occurred to me that she would struggle in this situation.
So I wrote a social story 
When friends come over
Sometimes other children come over to visit.
We might play together.
My friend and I could look through the playdate book and choose something to do together that we both enjoy.
We might take turns playing different games that we enjoy.
It is fun to play games my friend and I both enjoy.
I was going to list in the social story the different things that Heidi and her friends could do on the playdate but then it occurred to me that a book with pictures of different things they could do would be more flexible as I could swap pictures around depending on the child visiting and what their interests were.
Also I could include pictures that suggested ways to play with the toys.
Eg picture of dress ups and underneath pictures of princess or a ninja or a pirate.
When a child is visiting I could bring out the playdate book for both children to choose from together what they would like to play. This would be less intrusive, I think than going through the social story with Heidi while the child is there.
I struggled with how to say to Heidi that she shouldn’t only play things she enjoys but also take into account her friends interests and play games they enjoy as well. But I don’t want to give Heidi the idea that it is okay to do things she does not enjoy with people you want to be friends with, because that would lead to a slippery slope.
Heidi’s speech therapist suggested the turn taking as an option, the visitor can choose to play something they enjoy first, then Heidi can play something she enjoys. I can use the time timer as a visual reminder that the activity wont last forever.
** I must remember to include at the end of the playdate book a question mark picture with ‘we might do something else’ under it for an option that either child might think of that is not included in the book **
edit to add – I’ve put the story and playdate book pictures online in .pdf format.
12 responses so far ↓
widdleshamrock // May 28, 2009 at 12:23 pm |
Sounds a great idea.
Let us know how you get on.
leechbabe // May 30, 2009 at 2:22 pm |
We had my nephew over this morning so we trialed it with him. Worked well to get the children started in play. But they are so used to their established play habits that they quickly reverted back to that.
Will be interesting to see how it goes with new playmates.
magneto bold too // May 28, 2009 at 5:45 pm |
fantastic work!
I had a wall covered in carpet and pics with velcro (I KNOW you know what I mean) It was brilliant.
Until Boo ate it. LOL.
leechbabe // May 30, 2009 at 2:23 pm |
I so know what you mean. We should have taken out shares in Velcro.
Heidi likes to rearrange her pictures and move them around this house which is why I’ve moved onto pictures stuck in folders / photo albums.
Elissa // May 28, 2009 at 6:11 pm |
Love it!!
leechbabe // May 30, 2009 at 2:25 pm |
Thank you
Chiloe // May 29, 2009 at 2:01 am |
Wow! You really have good ideas !!! I wish social stories will more developped here for special needs children .
leechbabe // May 30, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
Thank you.
Carol Gray at her seminar on Monday said she was going to be making social stories available for free through her website soon. I will update my blog when that happens.
Jayne // May 29, 2009 at 11:10 am |
That’s a great idea
leechbabe // May 30, 2009 at 2:26 pm |
Thank You Jayne
Frogdancer // May 30, 2009 at 10:02 am |
That’s a good idea.
leechbabe // May 30, 2009 at 2:27 pm |
Thank you, seems to be working which is great