Social Stories & Pic Schedules | Autism PDD

Hello everyone! I'm trying to put together a pic sched. and some social stories for my 5 yo. I haven't ever even seen either of these, so I am pretty lost as to how to even go about it. He has been using them at school now for about 2 wks, and is doing very well with them. His teacher said she's going to make one for him at home, but she's been so busy that she hasn't gotten to it yet. I'm getting impatient, because some of his behavior has gotten out of control, especially his stims that are anxiety related. I think if he had a pic sched he'd calm down, because he'd know what to expect. Can anyone direct me to a good site that has some directions, and pics that I could use? (preferably free... I'm broke )
Thanks!
For the correct instructions and help on writing social stories, go to
www.thegraycenter.org
For picture symbols search the posts here but I know you can find some
for free at www.do2learn.com

[Social stories]

Here's a very user-friendly intro to social stories. It includes a sample story and talks about how to write them yourself.

http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/introduction.html

I wouldn't worry about writing a social story that follows Carol Gray's ideal formula, at least not to begin with. Write a short blurb that tells your child what to expect of the situation and what is expected of him (for example, one behavior you're trying to focus on, for example sitting still during circle time).

[Picture schedules]

If you have a digital camera, you can make your own pictures for a picture schedule, and they'll probably be more meaningful for your child. He might even get excited about helping you take the pictures. Doing an image search using Google is another option.

My son uses a visual schedule at school. His lessons are organized into baskets (for example, math books and supplies in one basket, reading in another), so his teachers took a picture of the label on the side of each basket and use that for his schedule. They found if they showed him his whole day at once, he would get overwhelmed, so they just show maybe half the schoolday at a time.

Here are a couple websites about making schedules:

http://www.polyxo.com/visualsupport/makingpecs.html

http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/as/schedules.html

Good luck with everything!

modelmekids.com have great social dvds with free cd-roms to print out social sequences..they are wonderful for rules of playing with friends at playdates, birthday parties, school, and games, introduction & goodbyes.. they have a new one for conversation cues..the first 3 are geared towards playdates, school, and I can do it.. I love them:)

Try www.sandbox-learning.com also.

Thank you Karolysgirl, and NorwayMom. Those are awesome links!

the polyxo site is a great one....

I just started a pics program for Erin. I was also going to use my digital camera for locations and stuff...but for food and toy choices....I found the easiest way to do it was to do a search for the item.....example.....Goldfish Crackers.....then when the search results pop up.....at the top of the page will say Images, Video, Local, Shopping....click on images and there will be a perfect photo, I copied to Word Document, wrote Goldfish and placed picture of the sign for the word.....then printed out and laminated & velcroed.....

Lot of work......I have a home-trainer through my IEP.....I did the photos, she took them, laminated velcroed and out a communication book together

It is helpful not only for Erin, but any sitters who are with her that don't know all her signs.....

Social stories with just words are certainly functional, but my son is very visual so it's good to have illustrations/photographs, and, better yet, video. So I've got to say thanks for the tip about modelmekids, ShelleyR!

Modelmekids' website has some video snippets that you can watch free online, and these sneak peeks made the DVDs look really helpful for my son. The price isn't bad either (.95 per), considering it's a product with a fairly limited market.