Social Stories- A Real World Example

Last week, I had a conversation about autism intervention services for young children, and social stories came up. I learned that my mom saved some of my old social stories that I used as a little kid, and read through them with my family. This week, I want to explain what a social story is and provide a real-world example of a social story that could be made for an autistic child.

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Caroll Grey started using social stories for autistic children in 1993 (Qi et al., 2015). Social stories use pictures to describe a social event, such as interacting with children, going to the doctor, traveling, and more (Qi et al., 2015). This method of demonstrating social events to children can help illustrate proper social behavior (Qi et al., 2015). In my case, I was given social stories as a way to help manage my anxiety because I would be able to predict what was going to happen. Social stories typically consist of pictures with short sentences (Qi et al., 2015). Below, I would like to share pages of one of my social stories and give commentary to help explain the illustrations. This book details my experience in special education preschool. My mom made a social story so I could predict my day and anticipate any changes that might happen. All of my social stories had titles that told me what they were for, as I did not like surprises.

Beginning Of My School Day:

These pages outlined why I was going to preschool and how I would start my day before I began class. My mom drew tables outside of the school so I could have a visual representation of what the school would look like. The backpack was a replica of my backpack, so I could realistically see how my day would unfold with my personal items.

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Leaving my mom:

I had a lot of anxiety leaving my mom and transitioning, so I had elements of my social story dedicated to leaving my mom and starting the day with my teachers and classmates. This part of the social story helped me understand that I was not being abandoned, but simply starting school. By stating my primary teacher, I was able to understand who I would be with during the day, and that this is a trusted adult.

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Activities at school

My social story outlined different activities at school and certain expected behaviors. My mom took notice to include the specific order these activities would occur in so I could see my day unfold. The toys and snacks were based on different toys at school and possible snacktime options. According to my mom, I was not very good at sharing. Some say I am still not the best at sharing.  I have colors in board games that I play as, and I am not the most flexible when it comes to changing that. Maybe they have a small point, but I am much better than I was as a child. I also had a note to take my turn. The social story highlighted things I could improve so i could see the expectation in a kind way.

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My Teacher Might Leave

I struggled with adult transitions, so this part of the social story illustrates what will happen if my teacher steps out to do other parts of her job or take a break. I am regularly reassured that I am safe, and it will be okay. This might not happen every day, but it was something I could expect sometimes. The word sometimes told me to be prepared for the event to occur, but I could not predict when that event might occur.

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The End of The School Day

The end of the social story highlights how my day ends, and all of the places my mom could be waiting for me. I struggled with feeling abandoned and worrying about getting picked up, so my teacher and mom helped me practice getting picked up in different places. By seeing it in the social story, I could expect my mom to be in other areas besides the classroom door. The story ends with my mom reassuring me that I will always get picked up and will not be left behind.

Thank you, Mom, for all of the social stories. I can see how these would be a lot of work, especially for multiple activities. I used social stories to prepare for visiting the doctor's office, taking vacations, going to school, and more.

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Thank you for reading about social stories. If you have any questions or comments, please comment on the blog, reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook, or email me at Anniekrollblog@gmail.com. I hope to see you next week!

Reference:

Qi, C. H., Barton, E. E., Collier, M., Lin, Y.-L., & Montoya, C. (2015). A systematic review of effects of social stories interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 33(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088357615613516