1. Presented by Linda Klein and Kelsey Skrobis
Sensory Overload! How to Adapt Storytime for Children on the Autism Spectrum
Presented by Linda Klein and Kelsey Skrobis

2. What to expect General Specific
We’re going to start suuuper generally here (and probably repeat information some of you have heard before) before narrowing our focus to show you why this information matters to libraries in general and how you can adapt it for your own location.
To begin with, we need to define our goal. Our goal for sensory enhanced storytime is to provide families with children on the autism spectrum (or other sensory processing disorders) an opportunity for a storytime tailored to their needs. But what exactly is autism?

3. What is autism?
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex developmental disorder that can cause problems with thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others.
(Told you we were starting generally) Autism is defined as a “complex developmental disorder than can cause problems with thinking, feeling, language, and the ability to relate to others.”
If that seems like a broad definition, that’s because it is. And it brings to mind the quote that I’ve heard many times since we began planning this program: “if you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism.” What that means is someone can have all or one of these characteristics. Two notes here: Firstly, we used to separate people into labels of “high functioning” and “low functioning” but that’s being phased out because it was based on personal perception. “High functioning” has come to mean that that person “usually acts in accordance with neurotypical social norms.” and “low functioning” is a way of viewing someone as incompetent or infantile. Secondly, there’s been some discussion in autistic communities on whether they should be addressed with a people first approach versus a diagnosis first approach. From what I can tell, the diagnosis-first approach seems to be gaining more traction because autism is a big part of a person’s identity. Unlike a diagnosis of, say, cancer or diabetes, autistic people wouldn’t be the same fundamentally if they didn’t have autism. It has such a strong impact on the way they perceive the world and the means by which they identify that many prefer being called an “autistic person” instead of a “person with autism”. But, of course, remember that quote from a minute ago? It still depends on the person. So if you catch us wavering between the two during this presentation, that’s why. Now that we’ve defined autism, let’s talk about the many ways in can manifest…

4. What does it look like? Communication problems
Difficulty relating to people, things, and events
Repetitive body movements or behaviors
There are three characteristics that relate especially well to the idea of adapting storytimes. Some people with autism have communication problems, some have difficulty relating to people, things, and events, and some people use repetitive body movements or behaviors to calm themselves down. All of these may make it difficult for autistic children to enjoy our “normal” storytimes.
Maybe it’s a kid who doesn’t want to talk to anyone, maybe it means a kid has no concept of volume control, maybe they struggle with sitting still, maybe they don’t answer the questions that you ask.
So we’ve talked about autism and what it looks like and how it can affect someone’s ability to sit for a storytime, but why do we really care? Why does it matter to us?

5. Why does it matter to us?
Funny you should ask! We can probably all think of at least one or two patrons that would benefit from a storytime with a focus in interactivity and adaptability, whether or not we know for sure about their diagnosis. But one of the main reasons this kind of enhanced storytime is important is because we don’t always know who has autism or who is struggling. A 2012 study from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network, a group of programs funded by the CDC, points out the growing rate of prevalence. In 2000, you’ll notice autism affected 1 in 150 children– compare that with 2012, where it affected 1 in 68. Over 12 years, the rate of prevalence has more than doubled. Some of this is attributable to an increased understanding of autism– and, therefore, an increase in diagnoses. But it also means that the odds are pretty good that we serve multiple children with autism and that the number of children with autism diagnoses is going to continue to rise.
Okay, great, so more people are being diagnosed with autism. Why does that matter specifically to libraries?

6. Why does it matter to us?
Because libraries are founded on a tenet of being accessible to all. We exist to serve our patrons– and whether we work in public libraries, school libraries, academic libraries, special collections libraries, museums, etc., we will have patrons that have autism coming through our doors. If we want to continue claiming that libraries are for everyone, we need to back it up by offering programs and content across all learning styles.

7. How can we adapt?
Structure is important to this audience, although you still have to make room for flexibility. For example, we use the timer to let kids know how much time is left in the program. We may have to skip a song or activity in order to make the half hour fit. The timer helps us all stay on track. We do a lot of these same things in our regular storytimes, but some additional things we deliberately do to serve autistic children are the visual schedule ,the timer, and the transition button. In addition, we think in terms of sensory experiences. Often, in our large storytime groups, I would not bring out scarves or shaker eggs or bubbles because it would take too much time. However, we make sure we use tools like these in sensory storytime to give children a chance to play with sound, sight, and touch.

8. Storytime philosophy INTERACTIVITY
The focus is engagement and action. We want this to be truly a sensory experience. Adult interaction with the children is vital. Parents and caregivers must be present and engaged. They know their children best and know if they are going to want to participate or not. We don’t push children into participating.
You can use any of these principles in any storytime, it’s just that with a sensory storytime you are being deliberate about what you are doing and why you are doing it.
With our storytimes, we do use themes for these sensory storytimes, although we do not for our regular preschool storytimes. This is primarily because we want to have our interactive components work with our books. For example, when we used the story Goldilocks and the three bears, we read the story, did a flannel board, and then at the end let kids act out the story with props.

9. What can you add?
Storytime components that accommodate a variety of learning styles:
Visual Schedule
Social Story
A visual schedule
A social story
These are primary elements you will want to add to your storytime. Why? Predictability and routines can be important to autistic individuals. With the visual schedule, you can make this interactive. For example, we created removable cards with Velcro on the back that we can attach to the flannel board. We can also use the wall and tape. We first walk children through the schedule. Your handout has an example of one library’s visual schedule. We explain that we will remove a card as we complete each action. A sensory storytime takes planning ahead, especially if you are creating a new visual schedule each time. We recommend making several cards, or in our case train cars, that might accommodate a number of elements of your storytime. We don’t use them all each session, but they are available and ready to go. To make this interactive, you can ask kids to come up and remove the cards at the appropriate time.
The social story lets participants know ahead of time what to expect when they come to storytime. We kept ours simple, focusing in on just sensory storytime, rather than an introduction to the entire library. We’ve posted this on our website so people can see the social story before they come to the library, and they can also print it out.

10. What can you add?
External gadgets that help with accessibility and engagement:
Transition helper
Fidgets
Fidgets are one way to give restless hands something to do while in storytime. We spent about $10 on fidgets. We also use some other tools that you may want to look into, such as a transition helper. We use the Big Mack button, you can record a custom message or sound and it’s a big enough button that most kids can push it. This cost $135. However, you can use your smart phone and download a recording app, and just record a message. You probably won’t be able to let the kids push the button if it’s on your phone, but you might consider having them remove the cards from your visual schedule. We also use a Time timer, this costs about $40. We don’t constantly refer to this in Storytime, but it does help show kids when the time is almost up. You could also bring in any clock, or a kitchen timer, and point out the time to the kids, an analog clock rather than a digital clock might be more visually helpful to kids.

11. Other tools Focus on interactivity: Bubbles Scarves Shaker eggs
Fingerplays
Active songs
Flannel boards
Act it out
There are many interactive elements, and you can make them more or less interactive depending on how big your group is and how participatory they feel. Songs and rhymes with scarves or shaker eggs can help provide a sensory element. Fingerplays and action songs like I’m a Little Teapot or Head Shoulders Knees and Toes are important.
There are other tools you might look into: A small foldable tent that is suitable for a child with or without an adult can go into to get away from storytime if it’s too much stimulation. We also have purchased but have not yet used Therabands, which many sensory storytime providers use for stretching songs and activities.
You might consider stepping stones or a balance beam for kids who want to be active during storytime.

12. At APL
We started when a mom with an autistic child suggested it. We thought it was a great idea and started researching. I took a class through ALSC on sensory storytimes. A link to the class info is listed on your handout, it’s a four-week online course. In the class, we created practical storytime plans, researched literature, and learned from other students. Kelsey and I began planning our storytime, and we visited an Anchorage School District preschool to learn more about special needs children and present sensory storytimes to test our storytime plans. All ASD preschools (excepting Title One preschools) are all special needs; there are 41 of these special needs preschools in ASD. We realized that we could not bring a sensory storytime to all preschools, so we knew that we needed to offer something for the whole community.

13. Time to see it in action!
We’re going to walk you through an abbreviated storytime, where you can specifically see how we introduce storytime, how we handle transitions, and a few interactive elements.

14. Lessons Learned Start small; advertise when you’re ready
It’s okay if no one comes.
We blow the bubbles.
Waiting is hard.
Start with a message of acceptance.
Interactivity!
“If you know one person with autism, you know one person with autism.”
Linda’s notes! (Lessons learned section)
We learned that it’s important to try new things and learn from your attendees. Invite conversations with parents after storytime to discuss what they think worked and did not work so well. Consider offering a special playtime after storytime so parents can have a chance to talk together, or to talk with you. It’s important that the child feels that they can leave when they are ready, and sometimes they may wish to stay and play. We always begin our storytimes by explaining that this is a storytime for everyone, and we invite kids to participate or not depending on their wishes. Each child is an individual, so it’s an important step in inclusivity that we allow children to make choices depending on their comfort level.

15. Resources Alaska Autism Resource Center https://www.alaskaarc.org/
Special Education Service Agency (SESA) Library
Stone Soup Group
On your handout, there are links to information and resources, including these Alaska organizations:
The AARC serves the needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorders, their families, caregivers, and service providers throughout the state of Alaska. They provide information, referral, training, and consultation via on-site and distance delivery. We have partnered with AARC to get the word out to families who may be interested in our program.
The SESA Library supports all of the programs and grants housed at SESA by providing materials, assistive technology and information. The library provides these items to SESA staff, Alaskan school personnel, and anyone in the state of Alaska to help individuals with special needs, or to develop a better understanding of special needs. Loans are generally for 30 days (local, in the Anchorage area), or 60 days to the rest of Alaska. Loans are easily renewed or extended! They can mail materials to you! The SESA Library loaned us a Big Mack button and Time Timer to try out, before we bought our own. Look on their webpage for a link to Autism resources, there are a lot of great links about how to search for information in their catalog on Autism and Asperger Syndrome, links to introductory articles on autism on the web, and some selected items in their library that you can borrow.
Stone Soup Group is a statewide non-profit that provides information, support, training and resources to assist families caring for children with special needs. They have helped us get the word out to families about our program.

16. Questions? Linda Klein KleinLM@muni.org or (907) 343-2853
Kelsey Skrobis or (907)