Social Stories 101

Lauren Mathews M.S.
CCC-SLP
UNT Speech and Hearing Graduate Students:
Samantha Grasty B.S.
Casey Manning B.A., B.S.
 Tomorrow I am going to give a
presentation.
 There will be a lot of people listening.
 I might get a little nervous.
 That is ok.
 Take a deep breath and smile at the
people.
 Talk slowly.
 Speaking to people is fun!
◦ “Social stories are like ‘social reading,’ in
which a child’s understanding of a social
situation improves through the use of visual
instruction. Social stories incorporate
directions and explicitly stated guidelines to
support the social behavior of children with
ASD.”
-Carol Gray
(Prelock, 2006)
Created by Carol Gray
Director of The Gray Center for Social Learning

and Understanding in Grandville, Michigan
http://www.thegraycenter.org/
 Goals of a social story according to Gray
◦ “to share accurate social information in a
patient and reassuring manner that is easily
understood by its audience.”
◦ “to minimize potentially confusing

instructional interactions by providing
students direct access to social information.”
(Prelock, 2006)
 Functions of social stories:
◦ Targets situations that interfere with the child’s
participation in their home, school, or community
◦ Supports person’s attention to relevant social cues
◦ Helps person understand and interpret social cues
◦ Prepares the person for something that is going to
happen or transitions
◦ Teaches appropriateness in a situation
◦ Facilitates understanding, or independence in a
situation
(Prelock, 2006)
◦ Determine where the situation occurs, who is
involved, how long the event is, how it begins
and ends, what happens, and why it happens
 Collect this information through interviews
with those working with the person/ others
familiar with the situation
◦ Observe the situation yourself to determine
motivators that might predict the person’s
response
(Prelock, 2006)
 Vary sentence length depending on
person’s developmental and language level
 Use pictures paired with salient words or
use one picture to represent entire story
 Stories can be prepared before the situation
or on the fly during an interaction
 Pictures can be Mayer Johnson Picture
Symbols, real pictures, clip art or hand
drawings
(Prelock, 2006)
 Always consider the perspective of the
student from whom the story is written
 Focus on what student may see, hear and
feel in the targeted situation
 Begin the story with background
information about the child and the social
situations that present challenges
 Sentence Types
◦ Descriptive: provides info about setting, people or
activities
◦ Directive: informs children on what they need to do
in a given situation
◦ Perspective: describes the feelings, beliefs, or
reactions of others
◦ Control: identifies strategies the child might use to
recall information from the social story
(Prelock, 2006)
 Descriptive: “I go to gym class on Tuesdays and
Thursdays with my third-grade class.”
 Directive: “When I go to gym class, I listen to
what my teacher tells the class to do.”
 Perspective: “My teacher likes it when I listen to
what he says.”
 Control: “When I listen to my teacher’s
instructions, I will draw a picture in my head of
what the teacher is telling us to do.”
(Gray 1995a)
 One directive sentence for every two
to five descriptive, perspective, or
control sentences is recommended,
although the precise number of each
sentence type is dependent on the
needs of the student
(Prelock, 2006)
 Social Story 1
What to do when an unexpected visitor
comes to class • (descriptive)
 I am in Mrs. Johnson’s class.
 Sometimes people that I don’t expect in • (descriptive)
my classroom want to visit.
 That is okay.
• (control)
 Sometimes people who visit my
classroom like to be included in our
activities. • (perspective)
 When visitors want to join in the activity
I am doing, I will try to look at them, • (directive)
smile, and say, “Hi.”
 It is okay to smile at our classroom
• (control)
visitors.
Prelock (2006)
 Don’t
◦ Don’t use language above the person’s receptive
language abilities. Instead, use simple sentences
with associated pictures or visual symbols.
◦ Don’t use the same social story for children that
have varying cognitive levels. Instead, adapt each
story to the cognitive demands of the person.
◦ Don’t expect immediate results from the social
story. Social stories need to be directly taught and
used multiple times before the person can be
expected to understand!
(Prelock, 2006)
 For more information about social stories
◦ http://www.thegraycenter.org/
◦ http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/introduction.html
 For a variety of sample stories
◦ http://kidscandream.webs.com/page12.htm
◦ http://www.autism4teachers.com/autism4teachers_013.
htm
◦ http://www.frsd.k12.nj.us/Page/4816
 Books with examples of social stories
◦ Autism & PDD Social Skills Lessons: Pam Britton Reese
and Nena C. Challenner
◦ The New Social Story Book: Carol Gray
 Prelock, P. (2006). Autism spectrum disorders
issues in assessment and intervention. (1st
ed., pp. 514-517). Austin: Pro Ed.

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Lauren Mathews M.S.

Director of The Gray Center for Social Learning

◦ “to minimize potentially confusing

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