Gray, Carol

Carol Gray is the Director of The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has completed over 22 years of employment with Jenison Public Schools in Jenison, Michigan, initially as a teacher with students with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and in recent years as a consultant to students with ASD in inclusive educational programs. In 1991, Carol developed Social Stories™ and Comic Strip Conversations, strategies used worldwide with children, adolescents and adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). She has published several resources on topics related to children and adults with ASD, including articles on bullying, death and dying and how to teach social understanding. (Carol’s complete three-part series of articles, “Gray’s Guide to Bullying Parts I-III,” 2000-2001, which had been unavailable for 1.5 – 2 years, was reprinted under one cover in a special edition of the Jenison Autism Journal, Vol 16 #1, 2004). Carol is the recipient of the Barbara Lipinski Award for her international contribution to the education and welfare of people with ASD.

Solving the Social Equation in Autism Spectrum Disorders

Target Audience: Parents and professionals working on behalf of children with autism spectrum disorders of all ages.

Description: It is well documented that children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD):

1. struggle to make accurate guesses about what the people around them are thinking and/or feeling;
2. have difficulty retrieving and sequencing information
3. often miss the underlying meaning in social communication
4. may use logic and deduction to process the social information that others arrive at “intuitively”. Unable to quickly “get the gist” of what is happening, a day at school may be a frustrating series of events, filled with directions that are misunderstood and failed interactions with peers. Understandably, a child with ASD may be attracted to pursuits in line with his/her strengths, i.e. topics and activities that are logical, meaningful, and thus, hold greater promise for success.

This fun and practical workshop uses lecture, demonstration, and activities to explore instructional strategies that directly address the core deficits in ASD through utilization of everyone’s strengths.

This includes: 

1. a research based rationale
2. a very new FAST TRACK to quickly learn/review the Social Stories 10.1™, the most recent defining criteria and guidelines for writing and implementing a Social Story, with demonstration of Social Stories™ in practice
3. Solution Circles (a strategy developed by Pearpoint & Forrest)
4. social learning strategies that systematically model and teach friendship concepts and skills.

Objectives

Participants will learn:

1. about the cognitive theories that are relevant to teaching social concepts and skills (for example, theory of mind, central coherence, and executive function)
2. how to write and implement a Social Story
3. how to work as a team with parents/professionals to effectively and efficiently address challenging behaviors and situations
4. how to build and promote friendly behavior and friendship opportunities among all children in the general education classroom.