Story telling/ Story time

This is a book that is familiar to my guy. He loves it when I read it to him.

Incorporating story time into your daily schedule has many benefits to those on the Autism Spectrum as well as preschoolers, although before reading a story you need to consider the age and stage of development of the person you support.

Some of the benefits include:

1. Improved listening skills
2. Increased attention span
3. Better understanding of non-verbal commination (learning recognition of facial expressions)
4. Improved fine motor skills (opening books and turning pages)
5. Building relationships and social interactions
6. Picture/letter/word recognition.

Points to note:

• Depending on the age and stage of development, you may need to consider being careful with facial expressions and the tone you use, as misunderstandings can happen and cause anger or meltdown.
• People with ASD generally have a low attention span and may be difficult to engage. This is where your storytelling skills come into play. Using your whole body to tell the story; getting your audience to take part in the story, acting it out; using props or puppets; elevating your voice appropriately, etc, will all help in keeping your person engaged.
• For people more advanced, story telling will help build language and literacy skills, build imagination, give opportunities to ask and answer questions about the story,leading to future teaching moments, and also build on memory and recollection.

For further information or for consultation on detailed behavior support plans, activity planning and program planning please contact trainingsolutionskilkenny@gmail.com