Minimising stress
How to read the stories

Minimising stress

The first step often involves family carers and supporters learning new and better ways of supporting you. This can include learning the best way to communicate with you, how to help you make choices and take control of your life, and how to support you to spend time doing the things that matter to you. In addition, it is often necessary to find specific ways of helping you avoid or cope with difficult situations. For example, you may want to learn to deal with disappointments or having to wait for something, or you may want to learn how to tell someone that you want to be left alone, without losing your temper.

You can make a lot of things better by getting together with your family carers and supporters and working out the best way they can support you. However, you may also need help from a specialist, someone with the right training and experience who can help to develop a set of behaviour support strategies.

How to read the stories

There is no right or wrong way to read the stories.

Some people are not used to reading stories. Start at the beginning and read the story in each picture. Encourage the reader to move through the pages at their own pace.
Encourage the person to tell the story in their own words. You will discover what they think is happening, what they already know, and how they feel. If you are using the pictures to help explain a procedure to someone, you may need to describe or clarify the actions being shown in each picture to help them understand. Try not to challenge the reader(s) or suggest their ideas are wrong.
Some pictures may be more difficult to understand. It can help to prompt the people you are supporting, for example:
• Who do you think that is?
• What is happening?
• How is he or she feeling?
• Do you feel like that? Has it happened to you/ your friend/ your family?
Allow people enough time to follow the pictures at their own pace. Allow time for discussion of each picture.
Some people may benefit from reading the larger story from which the extract has been taken. This will allow them to explore their feelings and experiences in more depth. To buy the complete book, follow the link to the bookshop that appears at the end of the story.