Tips for Using Social Stories to Support Changes in Routine
OCTOBER 13, 2021
WHAT IS A SOCIAL STORY?
Through the art of storytelling, social stories can be used to teach appropriate behaviour, social norms and routines in a relatable way. Social stories can be used as a proactive strategy before encountering new situations or for situations that are known to be challenging for your child.
WHY ARE SOCIAL STORIES USEFUL?
Social stories can:
- Promote self-awareness and self-calming
- Be tailored to your child’s age, ability and interests
- Include your child, favourite activities and characters to capture their attention
- Help your child predict outcomes and remember sequences of events
- Provide an opportunity to practice reading individually or as a family.
How to write a social story?
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- Set the social story’s goal (e.g., accepting change).
- Answer six questions about the scenario: who, what, when, why, and how.
- Choose between a book format for younger children, or a comic book format for older children.
- Create the story:
- Write the story in the perspective of your child using “I” statements or his/her name
- Describe your child’s goal (e.g., I will remain calm when the bus is late)
- Include a title, introduction, body and conclusion
- Write descriptive sentences that explain the context, and coaching sentences to guide your child’s behaviour
- Individualize the language to your child’s age and ability (e.g., short sentences with pictures for earlier learners)
How to use social story?
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- Read the social story with your child before facing the situation. Do this when your child is calm and before challenging behaviour occurs .
- Promote your child’s understanding by asking questions or fill in the blanks.
- Role play using the strategies with them.
- Keep the story in a place where the child can easily access it and refer back to it.
- As your child has success, read the story less often, or phase it out.
Problem
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- Get expectations for behaviour by describing what your child should do, not what they shouldn’t do.
- Aim for improvement not perfection by using statements such as “I will try…” Any attempt to adjust would be a positive attempt.
- Include an interactive element to your social story, such as adding behaviour choices for your child to choose from (e.g., “when I get upset I will try to: take 5 deep breaths, squeeze a pillow, or listen to some happy music”).
- If your child is not interested in books or comics, consider making a simple story using a smart device. Take pictures that are relevant to your topic and simply type on top of the images. Your child might be more interested in the content if it’s on a device.
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