Read our articles to know how these social skills and social stories can help your child or student learn essential life skills.
Picture this: your student or child is staring at a homework assignment, completely stuck. The directions do not make sense, and the minutes keep ticking by. Homework time ends, the assignment goes back in the backpack unfinished, and instead of reaching out or sending a quick email, it sits silently in the bag until the … read more
Have you ever walked away from a high-stakes conversation thinking, “Ugh, I wish I had said that differently”? Maybe your tone came out sharper than you meant. Maybe you stayed quiet even though you did have something to say. Or maybe your brain went completely blank, and the moment passed before you could process what … read more
If you have ever asked your neurodivergent child or student, “Are you even listening to me?” and gotten a blank stare, a half-shrug, or a mumbled “What?”, you are not alone. Many parents, educators, and teens themselves describe the same pattern: the moment a conversation gets long, emotional, or unexpectedly complex, the brain checks out. … read more
You are three minutes into explaining the thing you love, the deep-cut version with all the good details, and you notice the other person has gone still. Their replies have shrunk to small sounds. A quiet alarm goes off in the back of your head: am I doing the thing again? That thing has a … read more
Someone gets called “mind-blind” in the middle of an argument about why a birthday card didn’t land. The accusation hangs in the air. The accused is autistic, the accuser isn’t, and the term feels both technical and weaponized at the same time. Same scene, three rooms over: a college student tells a Reddit thread they … read more
Maybe you’ve heard people say “college is where you find your people.” But has anyone ever explained how to actually do that—especially if you’ve struggled to make or keep friends in the past? If you’re feeling nervous about making connections when you head to college, you’re not alone. Lots of students wonder what to say, … read more
This article is designed to be utilized with the utmost professional integrity and ethical consideration. It is imperative to acknowledge that directly copying and pasting example goals into student’s IEPs from any external source, including ours, undermines the individualized nature of IEP planning and does not serve the best interests of students. This resource aims … read more
As technology advances, it is more important than ever for parents to help their children learn how to use the internet safely. Social stories are a great way to teach teens, particularly those with unique learning needs, essential internet safety skills. These stories can help kids understand why certain rules and behaviors are important when … read more
Planning a date can be a challenge for the best of us. What will we wear? When will we go? What will we do? Throw executive functioning issues into the mix and it’s a real headache, to say the least. Whether you’re interested in planning a first date with someone or you want to spend … read more
One helpful model for understanding personal growth within the context of social skills development is Karl Rohnke’s Comfort, Stretch and Panic model, which was developed based on the Yerkes-Dodson law. This law posits that peak performance happens when people experience a moderate amount of pressure. According to this model, when we either fail to challenge ourselves or … read more