Parkdale Launches Digital Social Story Collection for Students with Autism

A new virtual collection of digital social stories for students with autism will be launched at Parkdale Elementary School in Saint-Laurent (1475 Deguire Street) on Thursday, May 24 (6:45 pm to 8:00 pm).

The EMSB has created a virtual collection of digital social stories that are freely available through the Parkdale Elementary School website. Technology teacher Kristen Keyes will be on hand at the launch to train parents how to access and use the digital stories on their electronic devices.

The digital social stories contain helpful strategies for students to use when frustrated by a variety of school-based events such as remaining calm on the school bus, behaving appropriately at recess, and asking for help. Specific situation are broken down and explained through animated visual graphics, and appropriate responses to deal with the difficult emotions are offered. Stories were expressly designed to be culturally diverse in order to reflect the Parkdale community.

The digital stories project was made possible courtesy of a Professional Development and Innovation Grant from LEARN. The stories are designed to teach a variety of social skills to students with autism, and are based on the theory behind Social Stories™ as created by Carol Gray, a tool that schools often implement for students with autism.

The project was initially developed by Marylène Perron, principal of Parkdale at the time of the creation of the project, Maureen Baron, Information and Communications Technology education consultant in the Educational and Technology Services department at the EMSB, and teachers at Parkdale who all worked with Mitchell Berljawsky, a Masters of Education Technology intern at Concordia University.