Sensational Social Skills: Cartooning

Have you ever used the cartooning strategy?

Cartooning is an effective strategy that provides the use of drawings, thought bubbles, and speech bubbles to add visuals when processing social situations with your students. Research shows that cartoon techniques, such as thought and speech bubbles, enable individuals with autism to get a sense of social interactions and the hidden rules that govern behaviors (Kerr & Durkin, 2004). Think about how often you verbally try to process social situations with your students. You try to explain what they did wrong or try to help them understand the intentions of others. It is well known that students with autism or other neurological differences may struggle with auditory information. They need to see it to understand it. They need help making sense of the behaviors of others and all of those unwritten social rules. Cartooning can help. In today's Sensational Social Skills post, ACT team Speech and Language Pathologist Carol Dittoe will provide more information about this great strategy!

Who does Cartooning Benefit?

Cartooning can benefit students who:

• can read
• benefit from the use of visuals
• struggle with anxiety and social skills
• do not understand the thoughts, feelings, and intentions of others
• become escalated or shut down when you try to verbally process challenging social situations

How can I use Cartooning with my students?

Cartooning can be used to:

• teach conversation skills
• prime for upcoming social situations
• process past social situations and understand the intentions or feelings of others
• engage in social problem solving

What can Cartooning be used to illustrate?

Cartooning can illustrate:

• where you are
• who is with you
• what you or others are doing
• what you or others are saying

What types of social skills can be taught using Cartooning?

Cartooning allows you to reflect on:

• what you/others might be feeling or thinking
• the possible intentions
• identified problems and solutions
• how to do it differently next time

Here is an example of a cartoon created when talking to a student about running in track. The student wanted to quit because he thought his peers were being mean and yelling at him. In reality, they were cheering him on and encouraging him to run faster. Rather than just verbally explaining this to him, a cartoon was used to illustrate the situation. This helped the student understand the intention of his peers, and he felt encouraged to keep running. He was able to take the cartoon home to review with his parents, and it was used to prime him before the next track meet.

Next is an example of a cartoon that describes the events of an upcoming field trip. Keep in mind that your student may take information very literally. While you want to be clear about what the student can expect, you don’t want to include very specific details that may not be accurate. Instead, use general terms or provide possible variations. Create a cartoon that helps the student feel prepared and aware of the general order of events. When drawing the cartoon and talking to your student, use this time to answer any questions or talk about any concerns the student may have. Reassuring options can be included in the cartoon. The student can take the cartoon home, and you can make a copy to keep at school to review before the field trip.

When using cartooning to teach conversation skills, you can help the student practice greetings, turn-taking, and ending the conversation. Drawing the conversation can be a safe way to plan and practice what to say and how to act. You can include body language and facial expressions in your drawings.


Comic Strip Conversations is a book by Carol Gray that describes how to introduce the strategy of cartooning and provides a Conversation Symbol Dictionary to show conversation behaviors such as:

Interrupting, listening, talking, thinking, volume, and the use of colors to illustrate emotions

Comic Strip Conversations

How to get started with cartooning:

Materials needed:

• Use paper and pencil with an eraser. This allows you to make changes or corrections while drawing, and have a finished product you can keep.

• Add pre-drawn boxes to the paper to keep cartoons organized with a sequence of events.

• Consider providing a variety of colored pencils to add emotion to the drawings.

• Drawings can be collected in a folder or binder personalized by the student. These can be referred to later for review or priming.

• A dry-erase board can also be used for quick on-the-go drawings. If you decide you want to keep a drawing, you can take a picture of it before erasing it.

• I like to draw the cartoons in-the-moment. If you or your student prefer to use technology, here are some options:

• https://www.storyboardthat.com/comic-maker
• https://www.canva.com/create/comic-strips/
• https://makebeliefscomix.com/
• https://www.pixton.com/welcome

Steps to Cartooning: 

• First, introduce Cartooning in a non-personal way by drawing cartoons to illustrate social situations from books or movies.

• You can introduce cartooning in a personal way by drawing cartoons that illustrate positive social interactions and small talk. The goal is to teach the basics of cartooning without developing a negative association with the strategy.

• Once the basics of cartooning have been introduced, use this visual strategy when you need to process or plan a social situation and reflect on thoughts and feelings.

• Don’t worry about being good at drawing. This can be a quick in-the-moment strategy using simple stick figures.

• Draw while you are talking to the student so you can illustrate your words and include their input. If your student likes to draw, you can share the drawing process with the student. You can both add to the same drawing, or you can each draw your own perspective of the situation. This will allow you to better understand the student’s perspective.

So, if you find yourself needing to explain social situations, intentions, and expectations to your student, consider using the cartooning strategy to provide your student with a visual representation. This can help your student better understand the situation and reduce their frustration. Keep the cartoons for future reference when you prime your student for a similar situation. Remember, your students can do better when they know better!

For more information about Cartooning check out these resources: 

Understanding of Thought Bubbles as Mental Representations in Children with Autism: Implications for Theory of Mind

Comic Strip Conversations

Best Blog Posts for Self-Management

To start this school year, our team is compiling some of our best examples of supports we have seen in our districts and featured in previous blog posts. Today we are highlighting all of the Best Blog Posts for Self-Management

Click on the hyperlink under each heading below to be taken to the related post on that topic.

• Self-Management

• Superflex

• Zones of Regulation

• Top 3 Tips for Generalizing the Zones of Regulation

• Steps to Successful Implementation of The Zones of Regulation

• Incredible 5-Point Scale in Action

• Interoception

• Mindfulness for Children

• Mindfulness for Teens & Adults

• Breathing to Relax

• Emotional Regulation

• More Emotional Regulation

• Top 5 Tips for Teaching Emotional Regulation

Milton Union Elementary Regulation Space Provided by Julia Millikin, MCESC-SEL Division

One day last year, our team was walking through the halls at Milton Union Elementary and saw something that literally stopped us in our tracks! We came upon MCESC Social Emotional Learning Consultant Julia Millikin's Regulation Space and were blown away. We are excited to showcase her room in today's Regulation Rendezvous. 

Calming Environment

We just loves this calming mural on Julia's room divider. It definitely made a big impact on her space. 

Here is another glimpse of the mural along with Julia's tent and table spaces. We also love the calming impact of the lamps in the classroom. These can be less harsh for students who are sensitive to the overhead fluorescent lights.

Flexible Seating

In addition to the jumbo beanbag, tent, and table spaces pictured above, Julia's space also has a cozy seat in a tight space which is great for students seeking proprioceptive input. 

Additionally, we love this wicker egg chair. 

Julia also has some Big Joe beanbag seats situated at her whiteboard with some sensory items nearby. 

Regulation Tools

When you first enter Julia's room, there are shelves FULL of calming tools to help with emotional and sensory regulation including (but not limited to!): playdoh, fidgets, weighted stuffed animals, and Hoberman's spheres for deep breathing. 

We loved this WORRY Wacker shredder! What a great active regulation tool! 

In the center of the room, there were also some plasma tiles which can be a great sensory path option for students. 

Visual Supports

During stressful moments, it can be harder for students to process auditory information. In addition to the tactile supports above, Julia has a variety of visual supports to help students regulate including this calm down board and calming strategy cards. When implementing these tools, we recommend providing ample opportunities for practice when students are regulated so that applying the strategies "in the moment" when dysregulated it is less overwhelming.

Amazing right?! A special thank you to Julia for welcoming a couple of random ACT team members in to her room to take pictures and admire all of the awesomeness! 

If you want to learn more about the MCESC Social Emotional Learning Division which Julia is a part of, visit their website by following the link below:

MCESC Social Emotional Learning

Executive Functioning Forum: Self-Management

Self-management interventions teach students to identify expected behaviors, monitor their level of regulation, and how to apply coping strategies in a variety of stressful environments and situations. As the student becomes more skilled with applying learned self-management strategies, the self-management responsibilities shift from teachers, families, and other practitioners to the individuals themselves. Once the individual is developmentally 10 years of age, this level of self-management should become a goal. Today's Executive Functionin Forum provides ideas for implementing Self-Management interventions in the classroom. 

Direct Instruction

Direct instruction is important when first addressing self-management with students so that they know what behaviors are expected, identifying their emotions, and have plenty of opportunity to explore coping strategies when they are calm and regulated. 

Taylor Mackell
Driscoll Elementary, Centerville

Mandy Schetter
Northmoor Elementary, Northmont

Nichole Dunn
Miamisburg Middle School, Miamisburg

Carla Bryant
Miamisburg

Celeste Ritzert
Learning Center-West, MCESC

Deanna Granroth
Wogaman Middle School, Dayton

Purposefull People

Coping Strategy Activities

Each student will connect with different coping strategies that help them regulate. Work with your occupational therapist to identify activities to trial with students based on their specific sensory needs. Get student feedback and incorporate choices. 

Julia Millikin
Milton Union Elementary, Milton Union

Deanna Granroth
Wogaman Middle School, Dayton

Julia Millikin
Milton Union Elementary, Milton Union

Carly Jones
Brantwood Elementary, Mad River

Fanny Lim
Learning Center-West, MCESC

Andrew Vactor
Snowhill Elementary, Springfield

Marissa Steinhelfer
West Carrollton & MCESC

Marissa Steinhelfer
West Carrollton & MCESC

Visual Supports

Once self-management strategies have been taught and practiced, students may benefit from accessing visual supports throughout the day to remind them of the expectations and what strategies are available to them. 

Maggie Brackman
Northwood Elementary, Northmont

Rebecka Stricker
Springcreek Primary, Piqua

Deanna Hicks
East Elementary, Eaton

Ashley Watson
Madison Park Elementary, Trotwood

Denise Campbell
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

For more ideas when teaching students about emotional regulation, check out our previous posts: 

Emotional Regulation

More Emotional Regulation

Sensational Social Skills: Good Mistakes

Today's Sensational Social Skills blog will focus on being okay with mistakes, good mistakes. We often hear from our teachers that some students struggle to learn new skills because they are afraid to make mistakes or they become very defensive when given correction. Some students are easily frustrated by the mistakes of others.

We will share strategies for teaching students to look at mistakes in a different way using the Pillars of Performance (PoP) framework. PoP is a framework we use to help students acquire and apply social skills. These four pillars include: PRACTICE, PRIME, PROMPT & PRAISE. We have created a series of PoP cards to directly teach critical social skills.


First, introduce the concept of good mistakes with a social narrative like the one below:

Social Narrative: Nobody likes to make mistakes but mistakes help us learn. To learn something new you don’t just sit down and do it perfectly the first time. You have to be willing to make mistakes so you can practice, learn and get better. There are different kinds of mistakes. A good mistake shows you are brave and you are making an effort to learn something new. A careless mistake is when you don’t care and you don’t make any effort to do it the right way. Keep trying and learning from those good mistakes and you will be great!



Click the image below for a free handout of the Good Mistakes PoP card. Print, cut, and laminate the card to use as a visual support when teaching this skill.

Let’s PRACTICE!
In order to master any skill, you need to deliberately practice the skill. This makes it much easier to apply the skill in the moment when you need it the most. Try some of these practice activities to strengthen skills. Repeat, repeat, then repeat.

1. Learn how mistakes are opportunities for learning- Help your student understand the difference between good mistakes that are needed for learning (stretch mistakes), and making errors without a desire to learn (careless mistakes). For more information on four types of mistakes check out this blog post from Mindset Works:

Mistakes Are Not All Created Equal

Raise awareness by talking about your own mistakes or reading stories about characters who make mistakes. Consider how you respond to mistakes to model a growth mindset. Check out this blog post from Very Well Family:

When Your Child Makes a Mistake

Learn about famous inventions that happened because of a mistake. Check out these videos of important interventions that happened by accident:

2. Say Okay to Corrections- Help your student practice the skill of responding to mistakes in a calm and productive way. Teach with a growth mindset approach and encourage the use of scripts such as, “oops, I can learn from that.” Teach your student to say “okay” to corrections. To practice this, present a task that is unfamilar with the goal of reinforcing the student each time they respond to a mistake in a positive way. Make it a fun and positive experience to help your student become more comfortable with making good mistakes. Reinforce expected responses by having the student earn a point or reward each time they say “okay” to a correction.

3. Use a Calming Strategy- Help the student identify a quick in-the-moment calming strategy such as deep breathing or palm presses. Practice using this calming technique regularly. By implementing this calming strategy at the start of the task and as needed throughout the task, the student may be better able to manage frustration. Here is one example of a calming strategy you can try (Click the image to download a copy for yourself!): 

4. Quality Checklist- Create a quality checklist that breaks the task into small, sequential steps and includes quality assurance steps such as checking with the teacher and making corrections. By including these steps on the checklist, making corrections will be a normal and expected part of the process. When a checklist is presented, keep in mind it may take practice and encouragement before your student can use the checklist effectively and independently. By adding a preferred activity at the bottom of the checklist you can motivate them to get through it. 

Time to PRIME!

Use the priming bullets on the Good Mistakes card to review the strategies you have practiced. What self-script can they use to coach themselves when they make a mistake or are corrected. If these strategies are fresh in the mind of your student, the student is more likely to apply the strategies. Make a point of reviewing these strategies prior to starting a challenging or non-preferred task. Present the quality checklist with steps needed for completion. Be sure to point out the expectations of checking work and making corrections. Next, have the student engage in the calming strategy for a minute or more. These are all strategies that have been practiced so the student should be very familiar with how to implement them. The priming session should be a positive pep talk to review these strategies and instill confidence in your student. By priming the student, you are setting them up for success.


Click on the image below for a FREE social story:

PROMPT
Even with a priming session, the student may become frustrated or defensive while working on the task. Use the Good Mistake card as an in-the-moment, nonverbal prompt to respond in a positive way. If the student continues to be frustrated, prompt or model the use of the calming strategy.

Keep in mind that some students may become defensive or further escalate when given direct verbal prompting. If so, you can just present the Good Mistakes card as a nonverbal reminder.



Give PRAISE!
This final pillar is the most important. We know that in order to increase any skill we need to actively reinforce the skill. Any time you notice that the student is responding positively to corrections or mistakes, provide verbal or nonverbal praise/reinforcement. When using the quality checklist, it will be important that you follow through with the reward that was written at the bottom of the checklist. Facilitate intrinsic reinforcement for your student by developing pride in their work and point out what they have learned. Some students are motivated by adult approval while some older students may be more motivated by peer approval. 

That’s it! Those are the 4 pillars to teach your students how to respond to good mistakes. Each pillar is important in supporting the application and generalization of this critical skill. Taking the time to implement all 4 pillars will result in the outcome you want. It may take some time so be patient and have fun with it. Teaching the skill with a positive attitude will help the student develop a positive association with the strategies. Developing your student’s confidence and ownership of the goal will help your student succeed.