Social StoriesTeaching children social skills through

stories.

They teach children appropriate skills such as: ◦ Prompting ◦ Joining-in behavior ◦ Sportsmanship◦ How to maintain conversation◦ Skill Acquisition◦ How to respond to cues ◦ How to describe settings

What are social stories?

The overall purpose is to increase children’s social competence. By improving their independence, children gain confidence communicating with their peers and engaging in play alongside peers.

What are social stories?

Social stories benefit children with mild to severe disabilities, specifically children with Autism or Asperger’s. Teachers will evaluate and assess the child’s behavior that needs to be addressed.

Who needs social stories?

1. Descriptive statements define the who, what, where, when, and why of a situation-- basic information that may otherwise be overlooked by a child.

2. Perspective sentences explain the behaviors and feelings of others.

3. Directive statements describe what the student is expected to say and/or do.

4. Control sentences offer guidance on how to remember what to do and how to understand the situation.

Sentences in social stories

social stories need to have an introduction, body and conclusion and should use positive language (ie where possible, describe what should happen, rather than what should not)

stories need to be as accurate as possible and should include words like sometimes and usually for situations where a particular outcome is not guaranteed

stories should appeal to the interests of the person for whom they are written. Avoid using words that may cause the person anxiety or distress

the content and presentation of social stories should be appropriate to the person's age and level of understanding.

Things to remember:

The following are some pointers for tailoring social stories for people of different ages and abilities.

If writing for a child, write from the first person perspective (I will try to wait until it is daytime before I get up in the morning).

Pair age-appropriate photographs, picture symbols or drawings with text to help people who have difficulty reading or for younger children, as in Figure 2 at the bottom of this page. For more information on where to find and how to use picture symbols, see Visual supports. 

When writing for young people or adults, use the third person perspective (they, he, she) and adjust language and presentation accordingly. You could use a smaller font size, or present the story in columns as in a newspaper article.

Things to remember:

Comic strip Book Poster Index cards Video Song

Formats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGQzDfbwWko&list=PL25C728441D58BE06

Examples

Joining an activity: When Billy is at school he sees the other children playing together. Billy wants to play with them. Billy decides that he wants to join his friends playing soccer. First, Billy walks over and asks the children if he can play. Second, Billy listens to their answer. If the children say yes, Billy says thank you and joins the children. Billy makes sure he knows the rules of the game so he can make sure he follows them. If the children are playing a different way than Billy usually does, Billy learns the new rules and plays the way the other children were already playing. If the children say that Billy can’t play Billy doesn’t get angry. Billy looks or another activity to join and asks if he can play with them and listens for this answer. When Billy is finished playing with the children Billy helps clean up the activity and thanks the children for including him. Billy is excited to join in another activity the next day.

Examples:

Examples: