http://specialed.about.com/od/characterbuilding/a/Cartoon-Strip-Social-Interactions.htm

I came across a lesson plan that can be either used for an early elementary level or in a Special Education Class in any grade to aide in building social skills.  This lesson is also beneficial for reading fluency, speech, and writing skills as well.  One of the things I most liked about this lesson is the integration of several different benchmarks. The lesson starts with a cartoon scenario of a boy who wants to join a group of other boys.  Why does he want to join the group?  What can he say that would be appropriate?  With his cartoon projected on an ELMO some discussion can take place.  Right and wrong answers can be used for the students to pick from.  I would use vocabulary from a previous word wall to assist with answers and reinforce a previous lesson. After the discussion, role play is then done on appropriate answers to different scenarios.  The teacher acts as one of the students, and can assist some of the children with more complex levels of autism who might need verbal prompting to appropriate questions and answers.  Finally, students are paired up with scenario prompts that can be done on sentence strips, in which the students finish the sentence by writing the appropriate answers.  For instance “I want to join that group to play soccer.”  “I should ask a question.”  “Can I play………?” This short cartoon strip designed to assist with social skills has also integrated three other benchmarks of speech, fluency, and writing into a simple lesson for an early education or ESE classroom.  I feel this is an especially appropriate lesson for an ESE classroom, particularly students who carry the diagnosis of autism or autism spectrum disorder who might have problems initiating conversation.  This lesson can be changed to meet a lot of challenges that might come up during the year, such as correcting behaviors, creating possible scenarios for community based interests, and supporting communication for job skills.