Ask Amanda: Writing a Social Story

Question:
My son ..., who has Aspergers, is now 5 years old. He started full time school in September and is making pretty good progress in most areas. There have been a couple of incidents though that have been cause for concern. When the other children play rough and tumble he doesn't really understand how to do it back without hurting them or he even gets upset by it and acts out. He has scratched a boy on two occasions and really left a mark which is upsetting for all parties. I was wondering if you would be able to advise me on how to go about constructing a social story for [him]. ...




Answer:


Here are some key things to consider when writing a social story:



Social stories:

• "Can't teach a new skill


• "Can remind a child where to apply an existing skill" (Smith, 2003)

In other words, make sure you child knows how to act on the things you are writing about in your story. Role play, prompting, rewards, supervision and repetition should be used to teach the skill with a social story being the "script" to remind your child what it is they should try to do.



Have a beginning, middle and end
Like any story, you need to set the scene, develop a theme, hit a climax and find a resolution. It should sound like a story, not a list of instructions or directions.



Cover where, what and who
Your story will need to describe where the behaviour is to occur, what may happen and who is involved. If you address these questions in your story, you are telling your child about the context for the desired behaviour so they know exactly when they are to use it, who they are to use it with and what is expected to happen.



Whose perspective?
The story must be written from your child's perspective. So try and see the event from your child's perspective, and when you are writing what you want your child to do make sure you write it in the first person. Just a note here that Gray (2000) does suggest that for older children/youth a social story should be written from a third person perspective - "Like a newspaper article" (appendix 13.10).



A different perspective
If you are stating a negative (what you want your child to avoid), then you should use a third person perspective.

Being literal and logical

Read through your story like a director, imagining each step of what your child would do if they followed the story literally step-by-step. This means that there should be no figurative language or phrases that assume knowledge.

Directing vs. demanding

Children with Autism and Aspergers can become distressed if they are told they "must" do something - and they don't succeed in to doing exactly what it is they have been told to do. However, we do need to have at least one "directive" sentence in our social stories. The way to make sure it is directive rather than demanding is simply by starting the sentence with "I will try..." rather than "I must..." or "I have to..."

The words you use
Make sure that you are using language that matches the language development of your child. Use words that he knows, understands and uses every day. Use picture sequences for young children with language difficulties, or reinforce your story with pictures. You will also need to make sure that your story matches your child's concentration span. The younger and more easily distracted your child, the shorter your story should be.





For some good examples of how to put these elements into a social story, visit http://www.connectability.ca/connectability/pages/lt_tipsheets/creating_social.pdf





References:


Early Childhood Services Team (nd) Tip Sheet: Creating Social Stories. Retrieved 6th March from http://www.connectability.ca/connectability/pages/lt_tipsheets/creating_social.pdf.


Gray, C. (2000). The New Social Story Book: Illustrated Edition. Future Horizons: Texas


Smith, C. (2003). Writing and Developing Social Stories: Practical Interventions in Autism. Speechmark: UK.