Social Story

Social Skills. Transitions. Perspective. Rules. Situations.

Steps to Take

Step 1: The Situation: Decide which social situation you are going to cover in the story. Choose a situation that may be a challenge for your child.
Step 2: Define Skill: After you have decided on the situation, decide which skill you would like to teach. Choose a skill that is needed for the social situation to be a success for the child. Choose a skill that can be seen.
Step 3: Write It: Use words that are appropriate to the child's developmental level and stick to either a first person or second person perspective. Focus the story on the social situation and spend time explaining the skill. Use one or two sentences per page. If the child wants to help, let them!
Step 4: Pictures: Some children will enjoy pictures in their social stories. This could be clip art from the computer, doodles or the child acting out the social story to be photographed.
Step 5: Use the Social Story: Add the story into the child's daily routine. It may be helpful to read the story before the social situation occurs in real life.
Step 6: It Works: Once the child seems to make progress with the social skill, add in more characters and different settings in the story. When they have seemed to master the skill, move on to another!

Some common social stories are how to join into play, how to ask for help or how to ask a question.
Start by reading the story to the child and as they get better, let them read it themselves.