Social stories

Social stories are short stories, written by parents or professionals (with input from the individual) to describe social situations that are difficult and / or confusing for someone. 

Social stories help to explain and to clarify why other people do things, how people feel, and why things happen. They sometimes also give advice. They help the individual to identify relevant social cues and to understand and respond appropriately to specific social situations. 

They should feel non-judgemental, patient and reassuring. They should be focussed on giving reasoning. They should not be confrontational or correct the person about their behaviours.

Social stories should be tailored to the individual and should be written from the perspective of that person (ie. they should be written in the first-person). When writing a social story, the person's interests, learning styles, and abilities should be considered. 

Each story should address a very specific issue and be focussed on the cause of the difficulty rather than the difficulty itself. For example, if a person engages in self-injurious behaviour when left unattended for some time, the focus of the story should be on how to gain the attention of others and not on that self-injurious behaviour is not allowed.

Ambiguous or abstract words like always and never should be avoided, as should ill-defined statements. For example, instead of I will talk quietly write I will talk so that only the person sitting next to me can hear what I say.

Carol Gray, creator of Social Stories, has a clear methodology for writing Social Stories. You can read more about that in How to write a social story

It is important to think about how to introduce and share a story. Introduce a Social Story in a in a quiet, relaxed setting. Sharing a Social Story while a difficult or upsetting event is occurring, or when a person is upset, should be avoided. Difficulties with understanding and processing information are made worse when we are emotional. Only look over social stories with people when they are calm and able to take the information in.

Keep the Social Story accessible to the person and revisit it to help them understand it. To prompt someone to recall what it says consider using partial sentences, e.g. If Ed picks his nose people will feel

Use your common sense and knowledge of the person to decide how often a Social Story needs to be reviewed with the individual. Many Social Stories are initially reviewed once a day, others just before the situation they describe. How often to review it will depend on the subject of the Social Story. For example, stories about the holiday season may need to be reviewed for a few weeks before the event. A Social Story describing a social event that happens weekly may need to be reviewed immediately before the event.

Stories are typically introduced one at a time, allowing time for the person to focus on one concept or skill, and avoiding the possibility of overwhelming with too much information. 

There are a few strategies for "fading" the use of a Social Story (although this may not always be possible or advisable). First is to re-write it, reducing the number of sentences each time it is reviewed. Second is to leave a gradually increasing amount of time between review sessions, until eventually it is no longer needed.

 

Example Social Story by Carol Gray

Everyone is diagnosed frequently

I have a diagnosis of autism. A diagnosis is an opinion about what is making a person feel sick, or causing a person to have difficulty. Most people have many diagnoses in their lifetimes.

Having one or more diagnoses - at one time or another - is a part of life for people on Planet Earth. It would be very, very, very rare -maybe even impossible - for a person to go through life without a diagnosis. 

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Most people have more than one diagnosis. This is Clark. He has been diagnosed 14 times with a cold, 8 times with the flu, four times with strep throat, twice with a sprained ankle, and once each with pneumonia, tendonitis, a broken arm, attention deficit disorder, dyslexia, tonsillitis, and appendicitis. His family and friends think he's a pretty healthy guy. They're right; he is. 

Sometimes people think that only people without a diagnosis are normal. This is a common mistake. One meaning of the word normal is that which is average, typical, or usual. Since most people are diagnosed with something frequently, having a diagnosis is really quite normal.

I have a diagnosis of autism. Many others do too. In the United States, one estimate is that there are about 863,636 children diagnosed with autism. Of course, some of them may have other diagnoses too, from colds to broken toes to near-sightedness. The list of possible diagnoses is very, very long. 

We are learning more every day about diagnosed illnesses and conditions. Doctors and researchers are looking for cures, medicines, and / or better equipment or therapies. At the same time, it is likely that those doctors and researchers are handling one or more diagnoses of their own! 

It's normal for people to be diagnosed. I'm diagnosed with autism. It's likely that in my lifetime I will have many other diagnoses, too. That's life on Planet Earth.