Social Scripts for Holidays and Family Gatherings: Teen Script Cards

What is included

• •Six greeting script cards with backs, one a family-filled blank over a neutral fallback line, every back saying the card can be said, pointed to, or shown
• •The no-hug script at three levels (say it, offer something else, show the card), a wave, high-five or fist bump tick box, the plain refusal, and the consent note the family reads
• •Twenty small-talk topic cards on cut-apart sheets, each ending with "What about you?", plus the what-not-to-ask rule card with the one line that deflects any question
• •Ten question-and-answer frames for the questions relatives ask, every answer printed as a full answer, including a frame for the student who talks with a device
• •The gift script (four lines true of every gift, and the card back that says the face does not have to do anything) and the break script (two exit lines, a quiet-spot blank, a break-signal blank)
• •Three credit-card-size hand-over cards (hug, gift, break), two copies each, for a pocket and a lanyard
• •The family note for the adult who attends, the advance text to relatives, the never-scored list (7 things), the teacher's rehearsal guide, a 15-row rehearsal data sheet and two copy-paste IEP goals
• •US Letter and A4 print files, everything single-sided

Questions from teachers

What are social scripts, and who is this pack for?

Social scripts are short printed lines a student rehearses ahead of a situation and then says, points to, or hands over when the situation arrives. This pack is written for teens and young adults from about 13 to 21 in special education, life skills and transition programs, and for the SLPs and teachers who run them, at a plain reading level and without childish framing. Every script line is the student's own words, and none of them carries an exclamation mark, because a flat delivery of the same words is a full answer.

Does it assume a holiday, a faith, or a December date?

No. No card names a holiday or a faith, and no card face carries a tree, a menorah, lights or a Santa. The greeting a family says is a blank the family fills before the day, printed over a neutral fallback line a student can point to at any gathering, and the topic cards say the rest of the day, not the rest of the holiday. The title says holidays because that is when families buy it; the cards work at a reunion in July.

What does the no-hug script actually teach?

Three levels the student chooses between: a spoken line, an offer of a wave, high-five or fist bump, or a credit-card-size hand-over card. A plain no with no reason is a full answer. The family note prints the rule the Girl Scouts of the USA, RAINN and the American Academy of Pediatrics all give: a child does not owe anyone a hug, not even a relative, not even at the holidays. A declined hug is never corrected, never scored, and never traded for a gift or a seat at the table. The script is only for hugs the student does not want; a hug the student reaches for is not an opportunity.

Does it work for a nonspeaking student or an AAC user?

Yes, and that is built in rather than added. Every card back says the card can be said, pointed to, or shown, and all three count the same. The three hand-over cards are the primary script for a student who would rather show than say, not a fallback, and a device user programs the same lines before the event. One of the answer frames is "I talk with this," said while pointing to the card or the device.

How is it scored, and is the gathering itself a data day?

One data point is one staged opportunity in a rehearsal: a greeting offered, a hug offered, a gift handed over, a question asked, or a loud moment cued. The data sheet records the part, the level, the mode the student used, the prompt level, and whether a practiced line or card came without a prompt. A family gathering is not a data day: the teacher cannot observe it and the student must never be graded on a holiday, so the family's report goes in a separate box that is never scored. Never scored, never corrected: a declined hug, a break, a quiet answer, a flat face, a stim, a "No, thank you", an "I'd rather not talk about that.".

What formats do I get, and how is it delivered?

Print-ready PDFs in US Letter and A4, everything single-sided so no page has to be flipped; the card sheets print best on cardstock. Delivery is instant: the download unlocks the moment Stripe checkout completes, a copy of the link is emailed to you, and the files stay in your My Resources library behind a magic link, so a lost download is never a problem. The pack is licensed for personal and single-classroom use by the purchaser.