Social Stories to Help Prep for the Holidays
It's the holiday season and if you have a neurodivergent family member, you know this time of year can be kind of hard. With all of the excitement, parties, holiday foods, family and fun brings new routines, loud noises, new smells and over stimulation. All of this can be very overwhelming for someone who is neurodivergent and it can be hard to know how to help them navigate this time. So I have rounded up all of the social stories I have available on my site that can help prepare your neurodivergent family member for all of the change and potential travel that you may have this time of year.
Social Stories to Help Prep to Travel for the Holidays | The Holidays Free Download
In this round up I'm featuring a new free social story I created called "The Holidays". This story does a basic overview of what to expect during the holiday season, highlights different scenarios that might come up and possible coping mechanisms for these situations. Similar to my other social stories, it is from the perspective of a neurodivergent person highlighting and validating their experience while not focusing on what others may be experiencing based on their behavior.
Social Stories to Help Prep to Travel for the Holidays | Lots of Helpful Options
One of the other social stories that would be really great to use during this time of the year include the "Change" social story because a lot happens during the holiday season and therefore there can be a lot of unexpected change that can be hard to navigate.
Traveling is so common during this time of year so all four of the social stories that highlight traveling could be incredibly helpful. For example, "Road Trip" discusses all the different things a child may be encountering during a road trip and how the road trip will go and end. Having different travel options specific to a situation is crucial because generalized travel isn't going to cut it for a neurodivergent mind. Plane, train and automobile travel is so vastly different that we need to prep them for those specific differences and these stories give you the ability to do so.
The stories also change depending on the stage of life that child is in. For example in the "Airplane Trip" story a child's mode of transportation inside of an airport may be different, they could be in a stroller, they may be in a wagon, or they may be walking. Since riding in a stroller or a wagon is very different than walking through an airport, and there are different steps that are involved in going through security and putting the wagon or the stroller on the plane, I wanted to have separate social stories for those different ways of traveling so that each child could relate to their experience. I also made sure to include having a layover and what that experience is like because we all know waiting in an foreign area is difficult.
As with all of my social story downloads I made sure to include step by step instructions on how to download, how I set up the story, what products I like to use for them and what makes them easy to use and enjoy over and over again! I worked really hard to make something that would hopefully help you have the tools so that you and your loved ones have a safe and enjoyable holiday season. Happy Holidays!
Social Stories to Help Prep to Travel for the Holidays | Shop
