ASD and Social Story - An Application

Social Story for
Children with
ASD

ONG SING YEE

WHAT ARE SOCIAL STORIES?

– Developed: Carol Gray.
– Purpose: “to share relevant information including where and when a

situation takes place, who is involved, what is occurring, and why”.
[Gray,C. (1998). Social Stories 101.]
– Social Stories provide the student with accurate information about
situations that are difficult or confusing. The stories are designed to
increase the student’s understanding of and comfort in these situations,
so that the student responds with a more appropriate behavior.
– Social Stories are believed to be effective because they try to address
the primary deficit in persons with ASD—lack of Theory of Mind.

HOW TO CREATE SOCIAL
STORY?

– STEP 1: Create a Social Story for a specific situation. Social Stories are short

descriptions of social situations, specifically detailing what a student might
expect and what may be expected of the student in that situation.

– STEP 2: Prepare the student in advance. Read the Social Story to the student.

– STEP 3: Implement the intervention—Just before the situation occurs, re-read

the Social Story with the student. Then leave the Story where the student can
freely refer to it. (If needed, each morning the Social Story can be read to the
student to prepare for the day.)

– STEP 4: Record the student’s behavior during the target situation.

HOW TO PREPARE SOCIAL
STORY?

A. Social Stories contain 4 types of sentences:
– Descriptive sentences: A social setting & what people typically do in that situation.
– Directive sentences: Direct the student to engage in an appropriate response to the

situation.
– Perspective sentences: Define the perspective/ response of others in the situation.
– Control sentences: Provide the student with the relevant cues to the social

situation, written in the student’s perspective.
B. Social Stories contain visual supports—photo, drawing, icon—on each page to
enhance understanding.

HOW TO WRITE SOCIAL
STORY

– Write 1 Social Story for 1 behavior.
– Write at the student’s reading comprehension level.
– Write the story from the perspective of the student (in first-person).The

directives should positively state desired behaviors.
– Write 2-5 descriptive/perspective/control sentences for every directive

sentence.
– Try not to use inflexible language, like “I will always…”
– Write in reality by mentioning variations in routines, like “Most days I go to

school.”

HOW TO WRITE SOCIAL
STORY

– Provide assistance recognizing and interpreting social cues.
– Try to use only affirmative sentences.
– Enhance the meaning of the story, and make it interesting.
– Talk about the student’s feelings, beliefs, motivations.
– There should be pictures to give Visual Cues to correct behavior.
– Only include truthful and relevant information.
– Ensure the story is accurate if interpreted literally by using terms like “sometimes” and

“usually”.
– Have a title for the story that identifies and reinforces the most important information in the

story.
– The focus of the story should be on the motivation of the undesirable behavior(s), not

necessarily on the behavior itself. For example, rather than write about tantruming, write
about being scared or frustrated in a particular situation.

EXAMPLE #1 [By Jason M.
Wallin] Sitting on the Carpet

– Sometimes our class sits on the carpet.
– We sit on the carpet to listen to stories and for lessons.
– My friends are trying hard to listen so they can enjoy the story or

learn from the lessons.
– It can be hard for them to listen if someone is noisy or not sitting

still.
– I will try to sit still and stay quiet during our time on the carpet.

EXAMPLE #2 [By Jason M.
Wallin] Lining Up

– At school, we sometimes line up.
– We line up to go to the gym, to go to the library, and to go out to recess.
– Sometimes my friends and I get excited when we line up, because we’re

going some place fun, like out to recess.
– It is okay to get excited, but it is important to try to walk to the line.
– Running can cause accidents, and my friends or I could get hurt.
– I will try to walk to the line.

CHECKLIST

CONTENT DESCRIPTIVE
TITLE DIRECTIVE
PERSPECTIVE
1 BEHAVIOR CONTROL
SETTING

SENTENCES

References:
– Information quoted from the training material by Rotary Club in training the

trainer to create the awareness on autism. (2016)
– Social Story quoted from https://slideplayer.com/slide/7906952/

https://slideplayer.com/slide/7475706/