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

A-LIST Spotlight: Speech and Language Pathologist America Swartzel from New Lebanon Local Schools

America Swartzel is the speech pathologist at Dixie Elementary and Middle School in New Lebanon. She is always so positive and knows how to engage with her students. We have seen America connect with some of the most challenging students and facilitate meaningful use of AAC, encouraging implementation across settings. We also love that she educates herself on the perspectives of neurodiverse individuals to make sure her goals and strategies are respectful of their unique differences and abilities. America is a great team player and demonstrates the ability to collaborate with others to support shared goals. We are excited to feature America today on our A-LIST Spotlight! Read below to learn more about America and the supports she implements for her students.

My name is America Swartzel and this is my 13th year at New Lebanon Local Schools, where I service all three buildings–grades 1 through 12+. The 2023-2024 school year was a big one for me, as I was honored to be selected as part of the A-List and was named Teacher of the Year in my district! My true passions in this field lie in the areas of Autism and AAC. When working with my students, I strive for neurodiversity affirming therapy practices. This is an area that is constantly evolving and it is crucial for us,as clinicians, to listen to Autistic voices and to have a willingness to change and grow our skills accordingly.


My number one goal with my Autistic students is to build strong relationships. I do this by ensuring that my sessions are child-led and as sensory friendly as possible. Although my therapy space doesn’t allow for all of the sensory items I would like, I am never short on fidgets, squishies, and visual sensory toys like bubbles and spinners. I offer those items, as well as physical input (deep pressure, rocking, etc) to my students freely during every session. My students know that sensory items and activities are not something that they need to work for–we never work to meet our sensory needs!

I think it is so important for kids to understand their brains and to embrace the differences that make each one unique. Some of my students have really enjoyed learning about the Autism spectrum wheel. We discuss each section and then they color in a blank wheel based on how they view their own Autistic characteristics!

Because most of my students have varied special interests, I try my best to incorporate their interests into as many visuals as possible. Here are some of the visuals I have made for my students.

A visual schedule for a student who loves dinosaurs:

I have one student who speaks so softly in class that it is very difficult to hear her. Since she loves The Little Mermaid, I created this visual to help her teacher communicate when she needs to speak at a higher volume. Although the student was apprehensive to use a visual at first, she was fully on board once her favorite princess was added.

For students who struggle with anxiety, a simple visual like this one can promote self-advocacy skills without drawing a lot of attention to themselves. Again, incorporating their preferred interests helps with buy-in from the student.

This was a picture book that was created to help students transition from elementary school to middle school. The students took the picture books home over the summer after touring their new school. They were able to read the book as many times as they needed so that they could have visual reminders of what the upcoming year would look like and, hopefully, help ease their anxiety about the transition.

Being student-led does not mean that you have to let a student make all of the demands and run the entire session. I have a couple of students who would do nothing but scroll through YouTube clips or play the same iPad games if I would let them. Learning what they really enjoy in those clips or games is key. I try to use toys or visuals from their interests in ways that do not involve being on the device, but mimics the same type of play. Busy Books are great therapy toys for this and there are tons of characters available to suit lots of interests.

Another trick is to make finger puppets using cut up gloves and printed, laminated characters from YouTube or games that the student enjoys. This “dancing doll” finger puppet was created for a student who absolutely loves the dancing doll character from the Starfall iPad game.

I still like to honor those requests to be on the iPad, but I save the actual device time for the end of the session. One of my most used visuals to help with this transition actually came from my very first ACT professional development session! This countdown strip is my go-to visual for nearly every session and helps in situations where I want to honor a student’s interests or requests without allowing them to take over the entire session. Personally, I prefer to use this countdown exclusively for elapsing time and not for individual tasks completed. When I first introduce this countdown tool to new students, I always start with the time going by very quickly, pulling off a number every few seconds. I gradually increase the time between numbers being pulled each session. This teaches my students that they strip means that time is going by and that they will eventually get what they want when the “one” is finally pulled off. I always use a second timer with an alarm (usually a visual timer) to end their favorite activities. This has helped my students to maintain a more positive attitude about the countdown strip and not to associate it with ending a fun activity.

Another way that I have been trying to build stronger relationships with my students is by learning more about gestalt language processing and tracking my students’ gestalts so that I can figure out what each one means in certain contexts and then use those utterances to expand language. I created this tracking form to help with this task and keep them in my students’ files.

I have also recently discovered a fantastic website that has been a great help with learning gestalts. Getyarn.io is a website that allows a clinician to type a student’s gestalt phrase into a search box. The website then generates a list of possible sources for that phrase in video clips. Here is an example: I had a student who kept talking about “the Bob Barker treatment.” I used getyarn.io to find the exact video clip from which the phrase originated–Shrek 2! The student was so excited that I was able to figure out what he was talking about! This is such a nice tool for clinicians to use in the moment instead of having to wait to ask caregivers after the communication attempt has passed!

Because we focus on a ton of self-advocacy skills, I also work really hard to help grow my students’ vocabularies. Using the various wheels of emotions is a great tool for teaching shades of meaning in emotional language.

I also try to make sure that my students who struggle with figurative language learn a new word or phrase each week. I created an Idiom of the Week poster that changes every Monday to help with that task!

I hope you have found some good tips and tricks to try during your next speech therapy session!

Best Blog Posts for Social Skills

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 Social Skills.

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

• The Foundation for Building Reciprocol Communication

• Building Joint Attention During Instruction

• Engage in Social Routines

• Encouraging Group Participation

• Peer Mediated Instruction and Intervention 

• Waiting

• Waiting and Taking Turns

• Speech Bubble/Thought Bubble

• Teaching Voice Volume

• Stay on Track

• Be Flexible

• Excel at the Expected

• Be Kind

• Listen to Others

• Positive Thinking

• Respond to Others

• Effort

• Good Mistakes

• Finish Later

• Waiting

Pre-Recorded Strategy Snapshot Webinars

We are kicking off the new year by featuring our pre-recorded Strategy Snapshot webinars that can be viewed at your leisure. These sessions are about 60 minutes in length and focus on our following "go to" strategies: 

• Behavior Cue Cards for Staff
• Visual Contracts
• Pillars of Performance PoP Cards

You can access each session by registering using the links within the flyer here: ACT Strategy Snapshot Flyer

ACT Strategy Snapshot On-Demand (Jan 2024) by allison.officer

Sensational Social Skills: Finish Later

Shifting from one task to another can be challenging for many students. Factors that make this skill challenging may include difficulty finishing a task, difficulty stopping a task that is not finished, or difficulty stopping a highly preferred task. Some students struggle with any type of transition so be sure you are using your transition strategies such as a visual schedule, a “to do” list, and a visual timer or countdown.

In today's Sensational Social Skills post, we will share strategies for helping students pause a task and switch to a new task 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 Finish Later with a social narrative like the one below:

Social Narrative: Sometimes we have to stop one activity and move on to another. If your class is moving on and you are not finished or if your teacher is asking you to stop what you are doing to start something new, you might feel stressed. It is hard to let go of a thought or change your direction when you are not finished. Being able to pause and finish later is a great skill to have. With practice, you can learn to finish later so you can feel calm and happy when it is time to do something different.



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

Let’s PRACTICE!
Practice makes perfect. 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. Pause and Switch - Practice pausing and switching gears by having students engage in two easy and preferred tasks. Set the timer to shift from one task to the other and then back again. Select the time increment and task to ensure this activity is not too stressful. Make this a fun activity to reassure the students that they can pause and come back to the unfinished task to continue working on it later.



2. 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: 

3. Focus- Keep in mind it may be very hard to focus on the new task if the student is still thinking about the last task. Use a lighted magnifying glass to illustrate you can move the focus from one task to the other by directing eyes and thoughts to the current task. Play a fun game of “follow the light” by having the student focus on and talk about the item your light is highlighting. Shift to a new item and have the student talk about the new item. When asking a student to shift focus to a new task, it helps to reduce distractions. Remove all unnecessary items from sight. If the student is working independently, provide a visual screen such as a portable cardboard study carrel. Ask the student, “What are we focusing on now?” If it is something they don’t like doing, use a visual contract to-do list to help them see the work going away and that they are getting closer to getting back to a preferred activity.

The To Do list can also be helpful if a student needs to finish later as it allows them to see where they left off in the steps to completion. If the student typically takes longer than the others to complete a task, consider only having them do part of the task before earning the preferred activity to keep them motivated and avoid frustration if they run out of time before earning their reward. Click the image below for a copy of this To Do list template!

4. Finish Later- Have the student help you create a Finish Later Bin (or folder) as a place to keep unfinished tasks. This can provide a visual/tangible way to show the student that the task is still there waiting to be finished at a later time. Make sure you always schedule ample time to work on unfinished tasks each day. If the “finish later” activity is not something that can be placed in a finish bin (such as a game on the computer), consider making a finish later sign to put on the computer. Reassure the student that you are saving the activity so it will be available where it was paused. 

Under Construction Zone
Heather Balkcom
Springcreek Primary, Piqua

This teacher created a construction zone for students to visit when they had extra time to work on unfinished papers. Their work was still “under construction”.



Time to PRIME!

Use the priming bullets on the Finish Later card to review the strategies you have practiced. What self-script can they use to coach themselves when they need to pause and finish later. 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 task that the student struggles to finish or transition away from. Refer to the student’s finish later bin and remind them that there will be time to come back to any task that does not get finished. 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.



PROMPT
Even with a priming session, the student may become frustrated or defensive when asked to pause and finish later. Use the Finish Later card as an in-the-moment, nonverbal prompt to reassure that the student will have time to finish later. Refer the student to the “finish later” bin. If the student continues to be frustrated, prompt or model the use of the calming strategy.

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 a request to pause and finish later, provide verbal or nonverbal praise/reinforcement. Refer to the student’s schedule to reassure them there will be time to continue working on the task later. Provide natural reinforcement by honoring your promise of time to finish later. 

That’s it! Those are the 4 pillars to teach your students how to respond to Finish Later. 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.

Around Town Round Up: Using Visuals to Troubleshoot the Top 10 Common Classroom Concerns

Our team coaches in six different counties and over 40 different districts. This means we see A LOT of students in a school year. And it also means we have identified several common concerns across a variety of classrooms and ages. In today's Around Town Round Up we have gathered a variety of examples of visual supports from our districts to address some of the most common classroom concerns we see. 

Classroom Concern #1: Work Completion

Many of our students struggle with work completion. They may struggle with the executive skills to initate or they may struggle with motivation. Use visual supports to clearly communicate what work needs to be done and provide reminders. Additionally, for some students it can be helpful to also include reinforcement at the end of work times. This incentive should also be visually communicated. 

Priming for Writing Activity
Jen Everett
Springcreek Primary, Piqua

Priming for Daily Topic Focus and Assignment Due Dates
Suzie Weber
Miami East Junior High

Computer Desktop Organizational Cues
Ashley Schibler
Fairmont High School, Kettering

Visual Contract To Do List
Sheyanne Olson
East Elementary, Eaton

Structured Work System
Heidi Horner
Nevin Coppock Elementary, Miami County ESC

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Structured Work Systems

Reinforcement Systems

Classroom Concern #2: Managing Preferred Tasks

Having a predictable routine for earning preferred tasks using visuals like the ones above can be a great way to help students know when they will receive preferred tasks and can help to manage tangibly-motivated behaviors. Sometimes, additional visuals are needed to clearly communicate what free time tasks are allowed and when they are no longer an option. 

iPad visual

Choice Time Options and Non-Options Visual
Catherine Anderson
Rushmore Elementary, Huber Heights

Website Rules
Bobbi Jo Chapman
Snyder Park Elementary, Springfield

Choice Time Area Physical Boundary with Stop Sign Visual
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Waiting Choices
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Play and Leisure

Classroom Concern #3: Turn-Taking

Waiting can be hard! Especially when you are really engaged in a certain activity or you always want to go first. When visuals are used to establish a routine for turn-taking this is often easier for students to cope with because it is predictable and they can see when they will get to participate in that preferred task. It can also be helpful in priming students who need ample warning before being called on. 

Morning Calendar Turns
Sarah Janosik
Tipp High School, Miami County ESC

Turn Taking Sticks

Wait Visual Cue
Genevieve Harvey
Harry Russell Elementary, West Carrollton

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Waiting and Taking Turns

Waiting

Classroom Concern #4: Voice Volume

Modulating voice volume can be an abstract concept and sometimes students have limited awareness of their own volume. Use visuals and role-playing to make the concept of modulating voice volume more concrete. 

Cat Special Interest Voice Volume Meter
Sarah Vikan
Harry Russell Elementary, West Carrollton

Voice and Phone Levels
Thurgood Marshall High School, Dayton

Voice Volume Scale
Mary Schuler
Baker Middle School, Fairborn

PAX Voices with Visuals
Taylor Ruef
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Voice Volume Visuals with Lights
Kelsey Keen
Tri-Village Elementary

Voice Scale Visual
Jackie Vollmer
Driscoll Elementary, Centerville

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Teaching Voice Volume

Classroom Concern #5: Downtime

Downtime is not our friend! When students aren't actively engaged throughout the day it can make transitioning back to work challenging. Also, too much downtime can increase anxiety when students worry about what is coming next and can make it hard to filter out sensory stimuli which can lead to overwhelm. This doesn't mean students have to be working on academic tasks all day every day! But it does mean that careful planning should be done to determine what students can do during ragged class times. 

Anchor Activity Choice Board
Robin Koronich
Learning Center West, Montgomery County ESC

Individual All Finished Choice Bin
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Under Construction Zone for Unfinsihed Work
Heather Balkcom
Springcreek Primary, Piqua

All Finished Choice Bin

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Anchor Activities

Classroom Concern #6: Group Work

Group time can be extremely successful for our students! There is a lot of sensory, academic, social, and communication demands that are involved. Priming students for what the expectations will be with visuals can make the time more manageable so they are not overwhelmed. 

Science Experiment Group Roles
Janie Dale
Northwood Elementary, Northmont

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Participating in Group

Encouraging Group Participation

Classroom Concern #7: Responding to Questions

Sometimes our students with more limited receptive communication struggle to know what a question is asking. And if they have limited expressive communication, word retrieval can be anxiety-producing. This may result in students not responding, providing a response that is off-topic, or even can lead to work refusal. Use visuals such as picture supports and/or multiple-choice options to help students know how to respond. This reduces stress and keeps positive momentum during work times. 

Wh-Question Flipbook

Multiple Choice Visuals
Cynthia Resch
Learning Center West, Montgomery County ESC

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Answering Questions

Respond to Others

Classroom Concern #8: Social-Emotional Regulation

When a referral is made to our team, chances are this is one of the biggest concerns. Our team strongly believes that the behaviors that can be seen stem from a student's skill deficits. They may need to be directly taught what expected behaviors are, how to control impulses, or social skills. Visual supports to teach these skills, role-playing to provide opportunities for practice, and visuals to prime and prompt students are essential. 

Contingency Maps
Mandy Schetter
Northmoor Elementary, Northmont

Roblox Special Interest Behavior Chart
Allie Clements
Schnell Elementary, West Carrollton

Individualized Behavior Chart Visual
Haley Urschel
Perrin Woods Elementary, Springfield

Good Mistakes PoP Card

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Behavior Posts

Sensational Social Skills

Classroom Concern #9: Transitions

Some students struggle with shifting gears to transition from one activity or location to the next. Or they may struggle with doing this independently. Visual supports can help with a variety of transition-related skills including knowing when a transition will happen and where they are expected to be. 

Visual Countdown
Jennifer McGowan
Smith Middle School, Vandalia

Large Group Visual Countdown
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Line Up Visual Cues
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Location-Based Schedules
Rylie Jarrett
Stevenson Elementary, Mad River

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Schedules

Transitions

Classroom Concern #10: Changes

Once schedules and routines are established, a new challenge can sometimes arise when things change. Sometimes our students get very anxious due to a "fear of the unknown" when a change happens which may look like rigidity or even explosive behaviors. Support students during these difficult times but using visuals to prime students when a change will occur. 

Schedule Change Visual
Jennifer Schmidt
Beavercreek High School

Change Card
Jessica Wright
Trotwood ELC

Change Post-It on Schedule
Angela Crum
Parkwood Elementary, Beavercreek

Fire Drill Priming Visual
Shanon Vance
Valley Forge Elementary, Huber Heights

Want to learn more about this supports? Check out our previous post:

Changes