Behavior Management
Strategy: Comic Strip Conversations
Appropriate Grade Level: K-3rd grades
(good for use with students who have autism and/or aggression)
Procedures/Steps:
The first step is to draw a four-panel template on a piece of typing paper,
then duplicate the template and staple the copies into a "book." (Older
students will need more panels for their comic strips, but four is adequate for
primary students.)
Introduce the student to the idea of drawing out a social situation.
Open to the first page and say, "Let's draw a picture about what happened
today."
The teacher models for student how to draw stick figures to represent
herself, her peers, and the teacher and how to use the speech bubbles to
indicate thoughts, feelings, or words that were said
For the last panel, the teacher says, "We need to think of a way to make this
better. We need a solution to this problem."
Comments and/or tips: Comic strip conversations and social stories are
designed to teach students social skills and improve social understanding.
They are also used it to help parents and professionals understand the
perspective of the student, while informing the student about what is
occurring in a given situation and why. a comic strip conversation is a visual
interaction between two or more people in which information is enhanced by
the use of simple symbols, stick-figure drawings, and color. Ongoing
communication in typical social situations is illustrated in the comic strips.
Source:
Glaeser, Barbara C., Pierson, Melinda R., Fritschmann, and Nanette.
(2003). Comic Strip Conversations: A Positive Behavioral Support
Strategy. Teaching Exceptional Children, 36(2), 14-19.