Writing and Developing Social Stories

This practical resource provides an introduction to the theory and practice of writing social stories. In addition, there are examples of successful stories to use as guides, as well as information and photocopiable resources for delivering training on the use of social stories.

Based on detailed work carried out in homes, schools and pre-schools, this book offers practical support to anyone meeting the needs of a child or young adult with an autistic spectrum disorder. Social stories are short stories intended for children with autism to help them understand their social world and behave appropriately within it. The stories:

• Provide clear, concise and accurate information about what is happening in a specific situation, outlining both why it is happening and what a typical response might be;
• Are written by those directly supporting a child with autism and only successful stories are included in the book;
• Are infinitely flexible and adaptable to an individual child in an individual social situation and cover children aged 3 to 16.

Writing and Developing Social Stories includes a preface from the author:

I have worked in the area of autism for about 14 years now and that experience has convinced me of the dedication and passion that working with children on the autistic spectrum engenders in those engaged in meeting their needs. Fortunately, there have recently been substantial developments in ways of intervening more effectively with these children, adding to the earlier emphasis on identification and diagnosis. The challenges remain huge for the children themselves, their carers and their teachers. However, I believe it is right to feel realistically optimistic that a range of compatible, practical interventions exist which, when implemented in considered and joined-up ways, by those living and working with the child, can make marked differences to how the child gets on at home, at school and in the broader community. One such intervention is the use of social stories (Gray 1994).

For many years it has been evident, through my work, that teachers could readily identify a range of social difficulties experienced in school by a child with an autistic spectrum difficulty (ASD) but felt unsure about how they could make a difference. The teachers highlighted the difficulties that the child experienced in social interactions such as making friends, interacting at playtime, taking turns, working in pairs or groups or eating their school lunch with others, but felt adrift about how to intervene in a systematic manner.

Teachers have described to me, over the years, hours of repeated conversations with children on the autistic spectrum as they try gently and sensitively to explain the social rules governing specific interactions with others. Increasingly, relevant commercial social skills packages have been published to provide some helpful materials for teachers to use and adapt, but the idiosyncratic and individual nature of each child's difficulties continued to highlight an additional need for a social skills tool that was infinitely flexible and adaptable to an individual child in an individual social situation.

Having pondered on the difficulties many children on my caseload were having with making sense of the social world, I ordered a number of books that I thought might help. One of those books was The New Social Story Book (Gray 1994), a relevant and practical book. Since that time many social stories have been written by parents, teaching assistants and teachers and an evaluation of their effectiveness published (Smith 2001).

Training has been run throughout Hampshire for those working in the classroom; teachers and parents; Speech & Language Therapists; Educational Psychologists and Clinical Psychologists. The results of that work have led to this book. I hope it will enable others to work on the social understanding of children with ASD by including a social stories approach in their routine repertoire of relevant interventions. I hope it will enable others to work together and have fun as they share their knowledge, skills and enthusiasm for making a difference for children with autism.