Focus of Social Story

My study child has speech-language impairment and the target skill that I am working on with her is how to "start and sustain play with other children." It is necessary to carefully observe what she does when she plays in dramatic play and blocks centers where she chooses to play most of the time. There are many opportunities for her to interact with other children and play with them, engaging in similar activities while borrowing, lending and sharing toys with them in dramatic play and blocks centers. However, children with speech-language impairment may not have the language necessary to make their needs known or to engage in appropriate verbal interchange (Cook, et al., 2008).

When my study child smiles and tries to give a toy to another child, sometimes my physical prompting such as nodding my head and smiling at her to signal to her that she is doing the right thing of sharing, showing and giving toys to the other children and my modeling and guiding her hand are not enough. I need to give her words that she needs to initiate and sustain play behavior. I need to supply the words to her such as, "Go and tell her/him, 'I am cooking dinner. What do you want to have for dinner?'" I will also help her identify the toys she is playing with and the actions she is doing for her to use them when talking to other children. I will model to her using referential language when naming things and actions specifically. I will say, "You are cooking an egg. The egg is frying in the pan." Then I will say, "Ask him/her, 'Do you like fried eggs?'" to encourage her to initiate conversation and play behavior.

Most of the time my study child does parallel activity. As the text states, "Behavior on this level includes independent play among children that uses toys like those used by the other children" (Cook, et.al, 2008). To help my study child move toward complete involvement and associative play, I will also encourage the children without disabilities to share toys with my study child and to ask toys from her. In this way, the children without disabilities can also model to my study child how to act as initiators of involvement. It will encourage them to play together and help them sustain play behavior.

Resource:

Cook, R.E., Klein, M.D. & Tessier, A (2008). Adapting early childhood curricula for children with Special Needs (7th Ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.