Far'ain Jaafar Group A

Case 2.
I chose case 2 because I believe the intervention relates to the storytelling concept. I am interested in knowing more about the effectiveness of the social story intervention tool. I think it would be a useful skill to acquire and used as a classroom management tool.

(i) The intervention
Social Skills -> Social Story
According to the case study, Kim “exhibits inappropriate and disruptive behaviors such as shouting aloud and throwing things off the work desk. Requires intensive support in areas of communication and social skills.” I identified the social skills as the area of intervention; hence I choose the social story as the tool of intervention.

What is a social story?
The social story was originally developed for children with developmental difficulties who have significant difficulties regulating their behaviors adequately and interacting appropriately with their peers. (Schneider & Goldstein, 2009)
According to Schneider & Goldstein (2009), a social story is a short story “used to teach children the social expectations of situations which they have presented behavioral difficulties”. The content of the stories include information on “who is involved, what is happening, how the child can respond, and how others may respond and feel.” (Schneider & Goldstein, 2009)
Schneider & Goldstein (2009) stated that, “narratives may be used to target nonverbal
behavior (e.g., raising one’s hand, following directions), verbal behavior (e.g., answering questions, greeting), or a combination (e.g., playing with a friend).” It is also found that a more descriptive story give opportunities for children to respond to the story.

(ii) Its effectiveness (as reported in the journal article)
According to the results of the research, social story is a generally effective tool of intervention. The social stories were written at children’s language level to be more easily understood. Schneider & Goldstein (2009) stated that, “social stories™ may have been effective because interventionists identified important activities, described social cues and appropriate responses for those situations, and focused on critical behaviors needed to better participate in those circumstances.”
The authors found three promising results from the research, “first, we found Social Stories™ to be a relatively noninvasive method of curbing challenging behavior and encouraging appropriate behavior. The narrative method, however, can potentially be implemented to address many behaviors.” (Schneider & Goldstein, 2009) Secondly, the authors found that social stories can be implemented in common classroom circumstances. And finally, they found that the stories cater to the auditory-visual learner as it is a combined reading and listening activity.

(iii) Personal evaluation
With considerations to Kim’s area of intervention (social skills), I believe that she will benefit from social stories. According to Schneider & Goldstein (2009), “social stories™ are one way to teach behavioral expectations for appropriate academic and social behaviors to improve children’s classroom participation.”
Through social stories, Kim will be able to learn to display more appropriate and less disruptive behaviors in the classroom. This would increase her ability to participate in class and simultaneously improve her progress in learning. Secondly, the social stories are likely to help improve Kim’s language development. With regular social stories, Kim’s vocabulary bank may expand and she may learn to use these words to communicate with her peers and teachers.

(iv) Suggestions
I think that social stories are relatively easy to implement. The teacher gets to exercise her observational skills to help derive the content of the social story and she also gets to be creative in the illustration of the story. To directly address the behavior of intervention, Kim may be the character in the story. This might promote in Kim a sense of pride or belonging to the story.
The teacher chooses the words in the story. She may use this as an opportunity to encourage Kim to acquire or be accustomed to a new word, ultimately improving her language proficiency. Since it is made from basic writing materials (or electronically/digitally), it is cost effective.
For a win-win solution, the teacher and Kim may choose to create the story together. For example, the teacher may be the author and Kim the illustrator. Creating the social story together helps the teacher and Kim foster a bond together. The teacher may learn or discover more characteristics about her student (Kim) leading to better understanding about the student.
The social story can also be read at predictable times and frequency for Kim to have a sense of prediction, for example; upon arrival and before “desk work time”. This strategy may help keep Kim calm and more receptive to reading the social story together with her teacher.
Lastly, the social story book should always be kept at a place where Kim may retrieve it whenever she wishes to read it. One of the reasons could be because she might like to have a peer read it to her. Ultimately, seeing Kim take the initiative in reading the book is a positive step towards a more conducive classroom.

Reference

Schneider, N., & Goldstein, H. (2009, June). Social Stories Improve the On-Task Behavior of Children With Language Impairment. Journal of Early Intervention, 31(3), 250-264. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from Education Research Complete database.