2. Additional Social Thinking Strategies The Incredible 5-Point Scale Comic Strip Conversations Power Cards ppts from the following resources: http://www.5pointscale.com/CEC_handout.ppt http://www.5pointscale.com/washington/washington_part_two_handout.ppt http://www.kessjones.com/events/H2T15/documents/Session2.ppt http://seasdnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/incredible-5-point-scale-asd-conference.pdf http://www.livingandlearningtogether.org/downloads/Social%20Stories%20&%20Comic%20Strip%20Conversations%20Workshop.ppt http://www.aiu3.net/uploadedFiles/Teaching_and_Learning/IDEA_and_Training_Consultation/Standard%205%20powerpoint.ppt http://www.vcu.edu/ttac/images/social_skills.ppt http://dmsec.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/autism-training-pp.ppt

4. 5 Point Scale The 5-Point Scale is a predictable visual system used to help students reduce abstract ideas such as emotions, feelings, or pain into simple numbers can also be used to address behaviors such as vocal volume, disrespect, etc. can be used to help student identify where they can use certain behaviors. (e.g. vocal volume level 5 is reserved for outside or in an extreme emergency when there is no one near by that can hear you)

5. Example Michael is a 5 th grader with autism. He is very soft spoken and often difficult to understand. He is frequently asked to repeat things because he is so difficult to understand. He is prompted constantly to “speak louder”, however, every time he is called on the teacher has to ask him to speak up again. A 5 point scale was created for him to use to measure vocal volume and since it is been in place the teacher no longer says “speak up”. Instead she uses phrases such as, “Say it at a 3!” or “Keep it at a 2!” In addition, she will use a visual and point the volume level she wants Michael to use.

6. Example The scale:What it looks like: Yelling (sirens, shouting, screaming, fire alarm) Loud (announcements over the intercom) Conversation (friends talking, easy to hear but not too loud) Whisper (have to be really close to hear, talk into ear) No sound (peaceful)

7. Example “Colton is in the 6 th grade. He has problems getting along in school. He likes to be in control and gets upset if he perceives something is wrong. For example, if someone cuts in line he may feel compelled to punish that person by kicking or hitting them. Colton’s ability to control his behavior varies from day to day. Colton enjoys school despite having challenges with others who do not follow his way of thinking” (Buron & Curtis, 2003, p. 26).

8. Example Looks Like Feels Like I Can Try to Kicking or hittingMy head will explode Call my mom to go home Screaming or hittingNervousGo see Mr. Peterson Quiet, rude talkBad mood, grumpyStay away from kids Regular kidGoodEnjoy it PlayingA million bucksStay that way

9. Today’s Math Topic 5 - I am lost! I need a lot of help. 4 - Hard stuff. I get some of it. I will need help. 3 - So-so. I have to really think hard. A review before the quiz would help. 2 - Hey, I get it! Don’t wait too long for the quiz, I might forget. 1 - Easy! I could help somebody else.

10. Personal Speed Scale 5432154321 Indy 500! Running Full speed Very slow Snail OKAY NOT OKAY Running/ jogging Fast walk/ skipping Walking Where am I? Who am I with? What am I doing? What’s going on?

11. -Breaks down a concept / behavior into 5 concrete levels, 1 - 5, often differentiated by intensity. -There is mutual agreement to what each number represents. - Helps your student (& you) better understand what is being asked. Incredible 5 Point Scale

12. My Bus Ride Report 5 = Terrible because:_________________ Help me resolve this! 4 = Kind of bad because:_________________ I’m over it. I might need a bit of a break. 3 = Okay. I had a little issue:________________ I was able to work it out safely. 2 = Good ride! No problems I:____________ 1 = Excellent ride because:_____________ I feel great! To help me have a 1 - 2 - 3 bus ride, I could ______

13. My Energy Level Too Much Energy - Bonkers! A lot of Energy -Excited Average Energy - Awake Calm Energy- Peaceful No Energy - Drowsy 5 4 3 2 1 WHEN, WHERE, with WHOM would these energy levels Be Okay and Not Okay?

14. Typical Questions Is a 5 always bad? A 5 can be either good or bad – it is usually the biggest illustration of the concept. What age or cognitive level does a student have to be? No rules. If you talk to your child or student, you can use a scale or some kind of visual system.

15. Knowing When Things I Am Told To Do REALLY Need To Get Done

16. Threatening words Angry words Hurtful words Just fine words Sweet words

17. My Verbal Responses to Requests 5 - hurtful 4 - negative 3 - neutral 2 - constructive 1 - positive From Who’s Perspective? How does tone of voice, volume and facial expression impact opinion?

19. Use of road signs to increase Motivation and clarity

22. Social Behavior Scale 5 = Physically hurtful/ threatening 4 = Scary behavior 3 = Odd behavior 2 = Reasonable behavior 1 = Very informal social behavior

24. Involving your student in the process

25. 5 =No question. Against the Law! 4 =Could be against the law if someone is afraid. Will get you fired and people will be angry. 3 =Unexpected behavior. People don’t know what to think 2 = OK – other people are feeling OK about you. 1 = Great! This might even make someone happy.

28. Buron

29. Buron, Manns, Schultz and Thomas

30. VDOE T/TAC at VCU (Dunn, Buron K., Curtis, M. 2004) Five Point Scale

31. Comic Strip Conversations Use of simple drawings to visually clarify the elements of social interactions and emotional relations. Can be used to visually "work through" a problem situation and identify solutions.

32. Comic Strip Conversations Allow you to get the child’s perspective of a situation. Allow you to share with the child what others are thinking.

33. VDOE T/TAC at VCU

34. (Gray, Carol. 1994)

35. Comic Strip Conversation Social Skills -How to Teach!

36. playground XX?X!! HAHA HA!!! You go to the bench!

37. Comic Strip Conversations/Cartooning Comic Strip Conversations (aka: Cartooning) are visual systems used to enhance the ability of children and youth with social-cognitive challenges to understand their environment, including the hidden curriculum. Steps for creating/using comic strip conversations: Drawing: Begin by drawing the drawing the comic strip conversation. This can be done by you or the student. Either way, artistic ability is not required; stick figures work fine. Guide with questions: The adult guides the student’s drawing or what needs to be drawn by asking a series of questions: Where are you? Who else is there? What did you do? What did others do (Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004, p. 28-29)

38. Insight: The adult shares his/her personal insights during the cartooning process when the natural opportunity occurs. (NOTE: student should have as much control as possible during the cartooning session and adults should strive to “achieve a balance between gathering insights into the student’s perspective, while sharing accurate social information.” Provide sequence or structure: Use comic strip boxes in which the student can draw the figures, particularly if the student has organizational problems. This way boxes can be numbered if the events are drawn out of sequence. Summarize the cartoon: This allows participants to discuss the comic strip in chronological order. The student should verbalize independently, as much as possible, with the adult only clarifying as needed. Summarization ensures that both the child and the adult have the same understanding of a given situation. Identify new solutions: The adult and student work together, again with the student performing as independently as possible, to identify new outcomes of the pictured event. The adult and student jointly analyze each item, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each. The student retains the list, which becomes a plan for future situations. (Myles, Trautman, & Schelvan, 2004, p. 28-29)

39. Example

41. Comic Strip Conversations Questions that guide a Comic Strip Conversation: Where is the child/young person? Who else is there? What is the child doing? What happened? What did the child think? What did others do? What did others say and think?

42. Comic Strip Conversation Use colour to visually define the feelings and intentions of a speaker. Carol Gray (1994) suggested: Green – good ideas, happy, friendly Red – bad ideas, teasing, anger Brown – comfortable, cosy Purple – proud Yellow – frightened Black – facts, things we know Orange – questions Combination of colours - confused

43. Correcting an incorrect colour Class teacher joking with classroom assistant: “ you’re going to get detention” Child felt this was bad and therefore red words: “ you’re going to get detention” Acknowledge the child's response that yes in fact these words can be bad etc but in this situation the teacher was teasing and the words were friendly so in fact they are green words: “ you’re going to get detention”

44. Comic strip conversations often provide insight into a child’s perspective of a situation and serve as an excellent prerequisite activity to the development of a social story. They can help to establish social understanding that can then be improved with a social story.

45. Power Cards The power card strategy is a visual aid that incorporates the child’s special interest in teaching appropriate social interactions including: routines behavior expectations the meaning of language the hidden curriculum. The Power Card Strategy consists of presenting on a single sheet or in booklet form a short scenario, written in the first person, describing how the child’s hero solves a problem and a small card, the POWER CARD, which recaps how the child can use the same strategy to solve a similar problem himself. (Gagnon, 2001, p. 19)

46. Components: A brief scenario using the student’s hero or special interest and the behavior or situation that is difficult for the child. The scenario is written at the individual’s comprehension level. In the first paragraph, the hero or role model attempts a solution to the problem and experiences success. The second paragraph encourages the student to try out the new behavior, which is broken down into three to five manageable steps. The POWER CARD is the size of a trading card, bookmark, or business card. It contains a small picture of the special interest and the solutions to the problem behavior or situation broken down into three to five steps. The POWER CARD is provided to aid in generalization. It can be carried in a purse, wallet or pocket or it can be velcroed inside a book, notebook, or locker. It may also be placed on the corner of a student’s desk. (Gagnon, 2001, p. 21)

47. Where Can the Power Card Strategy Be Used? Power Cards are appropriate for behaviors/situations in which the student: 1.lacks understanding of what she/he is to do. 2.does not understand that he has choices. 3.has difficulty understanding that there is a cause-and-effect relationship between a specific behavior and its consequence. 4.has difficulty remembering what to do without a prompt. 5.does not understand the perspective of others. 6.knows what to do when calm but cannot follow a give routine under stress. 7.needs a visual reminder to recall the behavioral expectation for the situation. 8.has difficulty generalizing. 9.is difficult to motivate and may be motivated only by the special interest. 10.has difficulty accepting directions from an adult (Gagnon, 2001, p. 21-22)

48. Power Cards are NOT appropriate with/when the student: 1.has sensory needs such as difficulty tolerating certain noises, smells, or tastes. 2.Is extremely challenged cognitively and appears not to understand spoken language at the sentence or paragraph level. (This doesn’t mean that the child has to be a reader.) 3.engages in the problem behavior only once. 4.The teacher or other adults do not have a positive relationship with the child. Remember, the Power Card strategy is not a punishment. It should not be perceived as negative in any way. 5.A child in crisis. When the child is in the rage stage, this technique will not work. 6.does not have a well-developed area of interest. In order to buy into the strategy, the child needs to want to follow the hero’s directions. (Gagnon, 2001, p. 22)

49. Example Student Description: Aaron has been acting out in class and seeking attention from his peers by saying or blurting out inappropriate comments in class. He likes the attention he gets from his peers for doing this and he thinks he’s being accepted when his peers laugh at him for doing this. Aaron’s special interest is Nascar and he especially likes Nascar driver, Jeff Gordon. Power Card Story: “Jeff Gordon and His Fans” Jeff Gordon loves being a race car driver, but sometimes it is difficult for him to think before he speaks. At the end of a long day sometimes all he wants to do is make others laugh. Sometimes Jeff blurts things out when his boss is talking. But Jeff has learned to think before he speaks. Jeff has learned it is important not to talk when his boss is talking and not to say things to try and make others laugh

50. when his boss is trying to talk to his pit crew and teach them the latest NASCAR rules and regulations. Jeff has learned to stop and think about the comments he makes before speaking. Just like Jeff, it is important for Aaron to think before he speaks. It would make Jeff proud to know that Aaron is like him and that he thinks before he speaks and doesn’t interrupt his teachers in class. It is important for Aaron to remember to do the following: 1. Think before he speaks. Say it in your head first before saying it out loud. If it’s not related to what the teacher is teaching then Aaron shouldn’t say out loud in class. 2. If Aaron can’t think of something to say about the teacher’s lesson, it’s better for him not to say anything at all. 3. Always follow the classroom rules and raise your hand before you speak.

51. 1. Think before he speaks. Say it in your head first before saying it out loud. If it’s not related to what the teacher is teaching then Aaron shouldn’t say out loud in class. 2. If Aaron can’t think of something to say about the teacher’s lesson, it’s better for him not to say anything at all. 3. Always follow the classroom rules and raise your hand before you speak.

52. Power Cards-Social Script Will Smith is a cool guy who has made a lot of movies. It takes a lot of people doing many jobs to make a good movie. Sometimes Will or others make mistakes on the movie set. Will Smith stays calm when he or someone else makes a mistake. If he needs to, he asks for help. Will Smith knows that everyone make mistakes. Will would like everyone to remember to stay calm when mistakes happen, to ask for help if it is needed, and that EVERYONE makes mistakes!

53. Power Cards

54. Calm in Crisis/ How to Handle a Meltdown Don’t: Loud voices Negative statements/threats (e.g. “You had your chance”, “You made your choice, now you need to leave class”) Taking away preferred or comforting materials or activities Physical redirection Angry tone or body language Punishments (e.g., “You just lost your sticker on your behavior chart) Do: One of the most important skills a teacher can have is the ability to be clam and comforting in a crisis or “meltdown” situation. A comforting teacher may: talk softly and share encouraging words repeat a calming phrase or simply keep one’s own body relaxed (Kluth) “The more you try to control the situation, the less control you will have!”

55. Things to Consider: It’s important to consider the following things: Fight or Flight Ask previous teachers and/or parents what typically occurs when the child has a meltdown (does he/she throw things, hit, kick, etc.) Find out if there are triggers or warning signs that a meltdown might occur and if so what are those triggers or warning signs Talk with teachers, parents, administrators, etc and discuss the best way to deescalate the situation Determine when you should call for additional support