1. Exceptional Alice My World and the Worlds of Alice Collide Melissa Pearson West Ashley High School

2. In My World A 19 year old loves Barney.

3. In My World Supported employment and living at home are the ultimate goal.

4. In My World The exact same skills are taught daily. (Lather. Rinse. Repeat.) Data is collected but the increases are few and far between. Something needs to change.

5. The Facts Trainable Mentally Disabled Student  I.Q.s below 50  learn personal living skills  work in supported settings restaurants, retail stores and sheltered workshops Reading and Mathematical Levels  First or second grade level  Most use picture symbols to read

6. The Facts Direct instruction- studies have shown that this is the most effective pedagogy for teaching this population Teachers daily model skills, give guided practice and then the students practice independently.

7. Social Stories Are tools for teaching social skills to children with disabilities, the most prevalent being autism. Provide an individual with accurate information about situations that they may find confusing.

8. Social Stories Focus On The important social cues The events and reactions the individual might expect to occur The actions and reactions that might be expected of them Why the event happens

9. Lining Up At school, we sometimes line up. We line up to go to the gym, to go to the library, and to go out to recess. Sometimes my friends and I get excited when we line up, because we are going someplace fun like recess. It is okay to get excited, but it is important to try to walk to the line. Running can cause accidents, and my friends or I could get hurt. I will try to walk to the line. http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/introduction.html

10. Social Stories The most common presentation style for social stories is text.

11. My World and Alice Collide What do all of our students no matter the ability level love to do? If text isn't the best way to present social stories then what is? What would happen in an ideal world?

12. The Real World In the past this is what they created: animation projects using Macromedia Flash that would stay in the confines of cyberspace never to be heard from again after assigned a grade. Are your classes much different?

13. The Real World What's so great about Mark Blacklocke's Programming Classes?  Create animated social stories  Motivated to complete assignments  Immediate product testing available with honest feed back  Best Practices for all at work.

14. Exceptional ALICE While ALICE was written to be used in computer programming classes for one purpose its potential far outreaches the confines we have put on it. Much like our students.

15. Thanks Steve Cooper RoxAnn Stalvey Mark Blacklocke and students Mary Runyon The Exceptional Wildcats