Finding Kite: A Social Skills Adventure Story
This choose your own adventure story is a unique, illustrated resource and a compelling mystery, focused on developing the social skills of children on the autistic spectrum. Trapped in Tudor England in 1535, in a world very different from their own, the reader must take on the role of the main character and work out why horses are mysteriously dying. Confronted by challenging social situations and decisions that will either help or hinder the narrative, they need to solve the mystery in order to get home.
The story provides a springboard for children to test out different actions and to experience a range of possible consequences and pathways. Decisions the reader must make tackle challenges such as working together and overcoming conflict, processing information and managing emotions and anxiety.
This book:
● is an engaging interactive story to enable discussion and create moments for deeper thinking and self-reflection;
● can be used either in small groups or 1:1 intervention;
● links directly to worksheets from the accompanying teacher resource, providing a personalised development tool that can be flexible according to the child’s needs.
Although created with girls in mind, positioning the reader as the main character allows all children to become fully immersed in the narrative. This is an invaluable resource to develop social skills and build confi dence among children aged 8–12.
Rachel Holmes works as a special educational needs coordinator (SENCo) within a specialist campus for secondary students with autism and associated mental health difficulties. She has previously set up a specialist unit for secondary students with autism within a mainstream setting and has led on primary curriculum development within an all-age special educational needs (SEN) school. Rachel has significant experience of providing in-service training (INSET) in both specialist and mainstream settings on a range of topics such as social communication, access to learning and sensory difficulties.