Making the Plan: Teaching Strategies 

Social narratives are stories that provide information to students to promote understanding. 

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Consequence/Contingency maps can help students organize their thinking and understanding and engage in problem-solving discussions related to behavior. 

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Comic strip conversations use pictures and conversation bubbles to help explain a situation and the thoughts of others during a situation.  

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Visual supports can include visual schedules, choice boards, people locators, and as a way to communicate "no." When students are overwhelmed, visuals can simplify communication. 

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The 5-Point Scale is a teaching tool that visually represents social behaviors such as “touching,” emotions such as “anger,” and abstract ideas such as “silliness.” The 5-Point Scale visually breaks down the issue into clear, visual and tangible pieces including how it looks or feels, and identifies ways to respond or cope at each level.

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Scripts are written sentences or paragraphs that students can use as supports to build social skills.  They use role play to practice using the scripts.  

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Self-monitoring is a strategy that teaches students to self-assess their behavior and record the results.  This has to be taught to students in order to be useful. 

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Systematic instruction of skills is key to effectively teaching developing behavior skills.  Breaking skills down into component parts, selecting prompting systems, modeling and chaining instruction may all be part of systematically instructing students in these skills.