Hi everyone!
So this week I thought I would tell you all about social stories!
To begin a
social story is a tool used to help individuals (primarily those on the Autism Spectrum) to develop appropriate social skills for a particular situation, event or activity that they might face. These stories can be created by a therapist or parent who best knows the child. Here are some helpful tips to consider when writing a social story:
- Picture the Goal: consider the purpose of the story and what the child needs to understand to achieve this goal.
- Gather Information: the individual creating the social story should take into consideration the child's age, interests, attention span, and level of ability and understanding. For example: where does the situation occur, who is it with, how does it begin and end, how long does it last, what actually happens in the situation and why?
- Tailor the Text/Images: the social story should include pictures and words that are familiar to the child and specific to the situation. For example, include the child's picture in the story, the specific location the child will be in, etc..
So once the social story is made what now? When and how do you introduce the social story?
Carol Gray has developed guidelines on how to use social stories effectively. The information below is from her book The new social story book (1994), which you can find on The Gray Center's website.
1. Present the social story to the person at a time when everyone is feeling calm and relaxed. This will maximise their learning and help them develop positive associations with the story. Social stories should never be used as a punishment for misbehaviour.
2. Use an honest and straightforward approach when introducing the story, eg I have written this story for you. It is about thunderstorms. Let's read it together now. Soon we will review it.
3. Review the story as often as required - some social stories will be reviewed initially once a day, others prior to the situation for which they were written.
4. Maintain a positive, reassuring and patient attitude when reviewing the story. This is essential for the social story to have the desired effect.
5. When reviewing the story, use a calm and friendly tone of voice and make sure the environment is quiet, comfortable and free of distractions.
6. Involve others in the review of the story where appropriate. For example, a story that is focused on a situation or activity at school could also be reviewed with the child's teacher or learning support assistant.
7. Introduce one story at a time to maximise learning and to make sure the person does not become overwhelmed with information.
8. There are two main ways of 'fading' a social story:
- increase the period of time between reviewing it, ie if a story was initially reviewed once per day, increase the review period to every two days, then every three or four days, and so on
- change the content of the story to reflect the person's new skills. For example, remove directive sentences from the story, or rewrite them as partial sentences where the person is required to recall the missing information. However, some people with autism may find such changes distressing; alternative approaches should be explored if this is the case.
Below I have attached four sample social stories for different situations that a child might have difficulties with. As therapist what are some other situations that a child might have difficulties with and would benefit from a social story?
