What is Social Story Teaching for Kids with Autism
Why You Should Use Social Story Telling
What is social story 📚 learning and why do we use them?
Social stories are an invaluable educational 🧰 tool that can be utilized in all environments.
Visual stories are specifically designed to help students understand the demands of their environment.
They are stories that simplify situations and explain appropriate behaviors.
Typically used for individuals with autism, social narrative 📣 telling provides comfort to a person who is used to a particular schedule or situation.
The story explains the change that will occur and what one could expect from the alternative event that will take place.
When I write a social story I strive to make the language as positive as possible and easy to understand. 👍
This means attempting to not be too wordy but explaining the social situation in the easiest possible way with clear language and simple pictures.
Create Social Story for Learning
So, when would you want to use a social story?
The answer is simple: anytime you want to help explain the situation that is going to occur or has already occurred that could cause 🧘♀️ stress or confusion.
Someone different is picking your child up from school: social story.
A death of a pet or loved one: social story.
A favorite food was not at the store to buy: social narrative.
Problems with hygiene: social story.
Puberty and changes to the body: social scripting.
How to go Trick-or-Treating: social story.
Get my drift? 💡
Anything can be turned into a social story.
Writing a Social Story
I had a student one time who loved the 📱 iPod.
She wanted the iPod at all times of the day and didn’t understand that she needed to work for iPod time and wait for that time to come in her visual schedule.
Instead of working she 💧 cried and pointed to the area where the iPods were stored.
Trying to show her when she would get the iPod on her visual schedule wasn’t working and telling her when her time for iPod would happened wasn’t working.
I finally used Mayer-Johnson’s Boardmaker and in a large font typed, “If happy, get iPod. If crying, no iPod.”
P.S. The pictures throughout this article were written with Boardmaker.
This student was a nonreader so while the typed words weren’t significant to her, the picture icons above were very 👀 meaningful.
When I read her this story, she immediately stopped crying and put on a 😃 smile.
Seriously, just like a switch.
Then I used the other social story that simply said, “First work, then iPod.”
She completed her work and received her five minute iPod reward time.
Help for Kids with Autism
As a teacher, I am always looking for ways to easily convey challenging issues to students.
Using a 💻 written story with simple visuals is ideal because the story can be read as many times as desired.
I also feel that social stories will help create a unified front between home, school, and after school programs.
Consistency is so ⭐️ important ⭐️ for students with autism.
I’m not advocating withholding change but when an intense stressor is presented, accepting change is not your target.
Instead, use social stories to address a problem.
Once the problem is manageable then slight changes are introduced.
Knowing your student or child is key so that you can follow their lead to know when they are ready for more ❤️ challenges ❤️.
Need help with a social story?
Send me a message and I’ll happily give you advise or, if you’d like, create a set of stories for you.
