After our daughter’s autism diagnosis, we started several different types of therapies for her. One thing I kept hearing about was that a thing called a social story was being used in each one. Every time we struggled with a certain task (such as brushing her teeth), they would plan to use a social story the next appointment. Whatever they were doing, it seemed to work. So, I became curious. What is a social story?
A social story is a learning tool used to help explain the appropriate social interaction to the reader. In 1991, Carol Grey created social stories to help those affected with autism to understand social interactions. They show tasks, social interactions, and other activities a person with autism might experience day-to-day. Most of these are show in picture form with explanations, acting as a guide to the reader. This includes a multitude of topics from bedtime routines and mealtimes to understanding the environment around them.
Wanting to incorporate this into our routine with little man, I began my internet search for stories he could relate to. There are so many to choose from, I didn’t know where to begin. There are a ton of paper books, printable, personalizable, and more. It honestly had my head spinning. I wanted a board book though. Something he could hold on to, learn from, and not he destroyed the first time we used it! That’s when I opened an email from Real MVP Kids offering for us to review their board books for toddlers!
What is Real MVP Kids
Real MVP Kids is a series of board books that is designed to help young children understand and celebrate different aspects of their lives. Though these books are not social stories by design, I think they work even better as they relate to all children and are designed to be used by a toddler. The stories are told using the sixteen MVP Kids, along with their parents and siblings, making up twelve MVP families. These children and families represent a wide range of ethnic and cultural diversity, and multiple families are used in every book.
Celebrate!
The stories currently available are “Celebrate! Our Differences” “Celebrate! Bed Time” “Celebrate! Flying Colors” and “Celebrate! Mealtime.” Each book covers step by step, the process of each subject. Each book includes a “Helpful Teaching Tips” for the parents. These tips are designed to not only help with the book, but applying it into everyday life.
Multicultural Approach
The first thing that stands out in these books are the MVP families themselves. They represent modern families. They show families of all ethnic backgrounds as well as blended families. None of the stories show the same family throughout. Each page has a different family, making the books relatable to children of all backgrounds. This is brought full circle in the “Celebrate! Our Differences” board books.
Celebrate! Our Differences, follows the MVP kids “as they learn to be confident in who they are while respecting the uniqueness of others. By interacting with children of various differences in background, ethnicity, ability, and needs our MVP kids learn that differences aren’t scary and that finding common ground helps build strong friendships in which differences can be celebrated.”
Check out the first four books of the Celebrate! Series for Real MVPkids books
| Celebrate! Our Differences Join our MVP Kids™ in Celebrate! Our Differences™ as they learn to be confident in who they are while respecting the uniqueness of others. By interacting with children of various differences in background, ethnicity, ability and needs our MVP Kids™ learn that differences aren’t scary and that finding common ground helps build strong friendships in which differences can be celebrated. |
| Celebrate! Meal Time Join our MVP Kids™ in Celebrate! MealTime™. We will learn about good mealtime manners, being helpful, eating healthy and other simple lessons for toddlers. Follow the families of several of our MVP Kids™ as they go through their day interacting with food and family. |
| Celebrate! BedTime Join our MVP Kids™ in Celebrate! BedTime™ as they learn about nighttime routines that will help them stay healthy, go to bed more easily and sleep soundly. Follow the families of our MVP Kids™ as they prepare to go to sleep and say “goodnight” in their heritage languages. |
| Celebrate! Flying Colors Join our MVP Kids™ in Celebrate! Flying Colors™ during playtime in the beautiful outdoors of Patel Daycare. Their imaginations soar as they learn about colors from the birds and butterflies flying and fluttering around them. |
It Continues
I also love that this is a developing series. The product line with follow these toddlers into adolescents. This will build a friendship between the reader and the characters as the dive into these books. By doing so, it will build a relationship and trust when it comes to harder issues that children will face as they grow up.