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.

Bendrigg have created this page to help better support our visitors with their pre-trip preparation and communication, as we know it can be daunting to many to think about going away somewhere new and trying adventure activities for the first time.

Bendifolk – our Bendifolk are simple, but very carefully constructed images which demonstrate each of the activities here at Bendrigg. (Kindly created by our amazing corporate partners Amphigean)

Activity story collection – COMING SOON we are currently creating a series of social stories which will take you through the process of our most common activities in a PDF format.

Activity story video collection – COMING SOON we are in the process of creating a series of social story videos which visually demonstrate and simply outline the most common activities here at Bendrigg. (Funding gratefully received by The Bailey Thomas Charitable Fund)

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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)

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Activity Stories Collection

COMING SOON

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.

Once they have been created, the stories will be published on this page.

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Activity Story Videos Collection

COMING SOON

To take the “social story” concept a step further, we have created a collection of short Activity story 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.

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If you have any questions about our communication resources please do get in touch!