How Social Stories Can Relieve Stress in Special Needs Kids
One way we like to help children learn how to cope with stressful situations is by incorporating play.
Before a Doctor/Dentist Visit
For example, if your child is having anxiety about going to the doctor or dentist we can role-play with them and help them learn to cope with those situations. We have a pretend doctor kit we can use, and we even have a real stethoscope! We practice listening to our hearts, and opening up and saying “Ahhh.” We let the children use the play toys and they can pretend to give us therapists a checkup as if we were the patients. Then we can reverse roles and act out what a typical checkup might be like.
Why Social Stories Work
This is called a social story, and we’ve had excellent success using this method with some kiddos who have been very stressed out about going to the doctor or dentist or having some kind of medical procedure done. If we can talk through it and role-play through it, the kids are much calmer about the situation and feel much more at ease.
If your child is feeling stressed about a situation, talk to our therapists! They can help and show you ways you can help your child too.
