Communication Aids & Resources Communication Resources To Help Ease Anxieties
Communication Resources
We all know how important communication is, if it’s done right it can make all the difference in helping to reduce anxieties, particularly for people with learning disabilities and autism. We know it can be daunting to many to think about going away somewhere new and trying adventure activities for the first time so we have created this page with downloadable resources, to help support our visitors.
All of the resources on this page have been created by Kate McCallum with support from our wonderful corporate partners Amphigean, Adamedia Ltd & ARASAAC symbols.
Activity Stories Collection
Social stories have long been used to help autistic people develop greater social understanding and help them to stay safe. Social stories were created in 1991 by Carol Gray, they are short descriptions of a particular situation event or activity which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why. The terms ‘social story’ and ‘social stories’ are trademarks originated and owned by Carol Gray. You can read more about social stories and how to implement them on the National Autistic Society website here.
Social stories can be used in many ways including to help a person cope with changes to routine and unexpected events.
We understand that for many of our visitors, coming to a new place is a challenge in itself, let alone taking on new challenges such as being asked to try climbing or canoeing. Therefore, Bendrigg have created their own activity stories to help ease peoples anxieties before a visit.
Download all Activity Stories – Zip File
Individual PDF versions –
Outdoor Archery Activity Story
If you would like an editable copy of our activity stories to personalise, please contact Kate using our contact form.
Bendifolk
Our Bendifolk images are used frequently around the centre here at Bendrigg and they are a great visual aid to help people with additional communication needs prepare for their trip. We are very grateful to our corporate partners Amphigean who have kindly created these Bendifolk graphics as a service in kind.
Download a PDF with Bendifolk Symbols (Ready made Activity Cards)
Download a colour version of our Bendifolk (Individual Bendifolk JPG Images)
Download black line drawing version of our Bendifolk (Individual Bendifolk JPG Images)
Activity Story Videos Collection
COMING SOON
To take the activity story concept a step further, we have created a collection of short videos which in a similar fashion to the paper versions, provide a step by step of the most common activities here at Bendrigg whilst going one step further and providing real life visuals in-situ.
The videos are currently being edited and will be published on this page and on our YouTube channel once they are complete.
If you have any questions about our communication resources please do get in touch!