How to use Social Stories Effectively
- HEALIS AUTISM CENTRE
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
Social stories is a popular strategy for improving the social skills of children with autism through reading short stories that guide children on how to interpret and understand challenging social situations (Sansosti et al., 2004). These social stories help children to learn various ways they can respond in social situations and to know what to expect in a particular situation, which can help better prepare them for new experiences.
How can we effectively use social stories?
1. Identifying the target behaviour or situation
There is a wide range of social stories and picking one at random might not be very beneficial for your child. As social stories can either be used to prepare children before a new activity or to understand appropriate behaviours, it is important to first identify the situation or behaviour you are focusing on. Situations can include starting a new school, going to a new place (eg. the library, the dentist) or forming friendships. Behaviours can include sharing with others, appropriate classroom behaviours, coping with anger and many more.
2. Selecting the story
There are social stories online which you may use for your child.
Some resources include:
ABA Educational Resources: https://www.abaresources.com/social-stories/
Autism Little Learners: https://autismlittlelearners.com/social-stories-for-school/
Teachers Pay Teachers: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/browse?search=free%20social%20stories
Autism Behavior Services: https://autismbehaviorservices.com/social-stories/
Alternatively, you may also create a social story which would best suit the needs of your child. Social stories contain a description about the situation or setting and what happens during that situation, or the expected behaviours of your child (Raising Children Network, 2022). The use of descriptive sentences (I am starting a new school soon), perspective sentences (I feel nervous about making new friends), directive/coaching sentences (If I am shy, I can let my teacher know) and affirmative sentences (It feels good to let someone know how I am feeling) can be varied in the story (Pierce, n.d.). When writing the story, the language used should be simple for your child to understand, but informative in helping your child understand more details about the situation. Positive behaviours should also be focused on as compared to negative behaviours, eg. “Sometimes, I might not win a game, but that’s okay.” instead of “Losing a game makes me angry.” Additionally, the use of visual cues such as pictures are helpful in further engaging your child.
3. Reading the story and role-playing it
After reading the story with your child, you can encourage your child to role-play the story to practice or rehearse the behaviours. Role-playing the situation strengthens the connections in the child’s brain, increasing their ability to carry out the behaviour in a similar situation (Kinikini, 2020). This also provides an opportunity for you to praise your child on the expected behaviour to reinforce it, which encourages them to engage in that behaviour.
In conclusion, social stories are useful in supporting children with autism to navigate social situations and behaviours which might be challenging for them. Communicating these expectations or modelling the behaviours regularly would better help your child to follow these behaviours and respond in these situations.
Written by: Mary-Anne
References
Kinikini, S. (2020, February 24). Changing the brain through role-playing. Smarter Parenting. https://www.smarterparenting.com/parenting-skills/role-playing/71-changing-the-brain-through-role-playing/
Pierce, R. (n.d.). How to write a social story (A-step-by-step guide). Life Skills Advocate. https://lifeskillsadvocate.com/blog/how-to-write-a-social-story/
Raising Children Network. (2022, May 24). Social stories. Raising Children Network (Australia). https://raisingchildren.net.au/autism/therapies-guide/social-stories
Sansosti, F. J., Powell-Smith, K. A., & Kincaid, D. (2004). A research synthesis of social story interventions for children with autism spectrum disorders. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 19(4), 194–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/10883576040190040101