If you’ve heard the term before but aren’t sure how to make a social story or use them, read on. You’ll find some helpful information to use whether you are a parent, caregiver, or teacher looking for a way to support the child(ren) you are with.
What Is The Purpose Of A Social Story
A social story breaks down a specific event or task and states what to do. All of these stories give the child information about something specific, what to expect, and often a why. It may also include the steps in a process. Or it could have expected/unexpected responses in it.
Children knowing these specifics is helpful in them knowing what is going to happen and how to react in that situation. This gives the child information to anchor to so they can respond in a desired way. This assists them in having a socially acceptable response, which builds their social skills.
The best part about creating social stories is that you can make them for whatever situation is needed for the child you are helping. There are really endless ideas of what these stories could be about. For some ideas, keep reading.
Social Story Ideas
These short stories can be written about just about anything. Here are some ideas:
Everyday Life – things that happen every day in the life of people. Some typical topics might include washing hands (see the picture below for an example of this), morning or evening routines, making a bed, or putting on/taking off clothes.
School Life – think of what can happen during the school day. These stories are especially helpful to younger students who either haven’t been exposed to school life or those who are struggling to understand certain concepts. Ideas for school life are: walking in a line, taking turns, playing with others, recess time, classroom routines, or riding the bus.
Interactions with Others – under this category, you’ll find things that have to do with interactions with others. This can be interactions with adults, authority members, or other children. Ideas for this category include appropriate touch, verbal language (swearing often falls here), tattling, or taking turns.
Special situations – these would be things that might only come up a few times or might be special places/experiences. Think of things like going to a store, visiting libraries or museums, fire/smoke alarm procedures, or doctor appointments.
Usage Of Social Stories Explained
When thinking about how to create and use social stories, there are two main times to use them.
The first of these is to prepare the child on how to do something or what is going to happen. Social stories are often used as a teaching tool so the child knows what to expect and how to react.
An example of this would be if the child is going to be riding a bus for the first time. The parent or teacher might use a social story to state why the child is riding the bus, how the bus works to take them from one place to another, and what the expectations/rules are while on the bus.
The other is to re-teach or reinforce. This is most often used when a child struggles in a situation and shows unexpected behavior. Reviewing the story, and therefore the expectations, with them is helpful after an unexpected event. This way they can understand what they were to do or what was coming next. It is also helpful to review it right after a similar situation is going to occur again.
For example, if a student in school struggles outside during recess, you might use a social story about recess like the one below that is read to the student right before they go outside. This way they can review the process of how recess goes along with the expectations during that time. This keeps the information fresh in the student’s mind to assist them during that time frame.
Many wonder how often should social stories be read. It is usually best to have the child read them (or have it read to them) a few times. Oftentimes things don’t really sink it with the first read so doing it 3-5 times helps the information sink in. If you are using it as a re-teaching or reinforcement tool, the story is often read several more times.
How To Write A Social Story
Whether it is a social story how to make friends or one on a morning routine, they both follow the same process to write.
There are five main steps in writing this type of story:
- The first step in how to create a social story is to select a subject that you want the story to be about. This should be a specific idea (see ideas above). These stories are meant to be specific so they can be fairly short and to the point.
- Brainstorm what you want to include. This should include the replacement behavior or any social story rules that should be followed.
- Add introduction and conclusion pages. The introduction should give a preview and any background information that is needed. While the conclusion page should wrap things up.
- Writing the text of the story comes next. Remember when writing to keep it simple, use factual statements as well as 1st person perspective, and keep it positive. These things are super necessary to write a helpful social story.
- Add clipart or graphics. This helps the story to really come to life. Some prefer adding clipart while others like photo images. Use whatever works best for the child but don’t skip this step. Often pictures help the child understand.
If you want more information or details on how to make a social story with pictures, check out this post. It will walk you through the process step-by-step. Click here.
Social Story Examples
If you are a visual learner like me, then check out these three examples.
The first example is one on inappropriate touch. As you can see below, this social story begins with the setting of school. It goes into touching others, specifically in ways that are appropriate (high five, handshake, or pat on the back). Then it states why this is important and what would happen if we touch others who don’t want to be touched or in places other than those listed. Check out more details here.
The story in the middle is on stealing. It starts off by defining what stealing is. Next, it includes times/things that a child might want to take for their own (objects/toys and food) followed by asking instead of just taking. In addition, this story on stealing covers giving back a stolen item. Find this resource here to save yourself time writing one yourself.
The last social story example is on flexible thinking. For this type, flexible thinking is defined first. Next, it states what flexible thinking looks like. Finally, it tells the person reading it why it is important and how it is helpful. Purchase this done-for-you social story here.
Hopefully, you learned more about these important types of stories including their purpose, topic ideas, usage, and how to make your own social story. They are really great tools to help children better understand the world and those around them, so hopefully you try them out.
Happy Teaching!
