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Archive for August, 2007

Getting ready for school by Priming

Wednesday, August 29th, 2007

Summer is almost over and the new school year is approaching! Going back to school or starting school for children and their parents can be a very stressful time, especially if the child has ASD. As many parents of children with ASD already know, change on any level can cause increased anxiety, confusion, and stress for their child. Often times, children will respond to even minor changes with refusals, tantrums, and/or aggressive behavior. So what do you do when the change involves more than just a transition between one activity to the next and it involves a complete overhaul of the child’s schedule and day to day environment? Well one way to prevent a complete disaster from occurring once the school bell rings is to prepare the child. One way to do this is by Priming. Priming is a method of previewing information or activities that may be difficult for the child, prior to the actual event. There are two main priming strategies: Social Stories and Video Priming.

Social Stories are stories that explain social situations. They help the child understand different socially driven concepts and potential future occurrences in a clear-cut, visual manner. It outlines a sequence of events, so the child knows what to expect, and what is expected from them. Most social stories are simply written, in first person, typically in the perspective of the individual with ASD, and include pictures.

As a parent, you can either create multiple short social stories for known novel experiences, supply your child’s teacher with the information to create a social story for unexpected changes, or even create a visual board with changeable illustrations to create new social stories at the drop of a hat.

Video Priming is the second form of priming. This method of priming requires more preparation, so it can only be used with anticipated events, such as attending school. Video priming involves taking a video camera to the actual location, walking through the steps the child will make, while narrating the process and requirements. You may even want to introduce new faces to the child, such as his/her teacher, in the video. The tape should be roughly 1-4 minutes depending on the activity.

No matter what form of priming you choose, it is important to review these visuals over and over again. In fact, these aids should be reviewed every day over the course of 3-5 days prior to the event, if possible. By reviewing these tools multiple times, the child should become more at ease and familiar with the novel event/location/person.

TIPS:

  • Be sure to emphasize steps that could be potentially more difficult for the child to understand.
  • Use both priming methods to supplement one another.
  • Include an activities card that relates to the priming video. If you have a video primer about school, the card could include simple questions about the different steps. For example: “How will we get to school?” Under the question, you could have three pictures of different modes of transportation: a person walking, a school bus, and a car. After reviewing the video show the child the card and have him/her answer the questions with the answer choices provided.

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