Social Stories

Social stories provide autistic people with the tools necessary to communicate in social situations. Many people who are diagnosed as autistic have deficits in social cognition. They may have difficulty determining how another person may feel by their behavior or how there behavior will make another person feel. They may also be unaware of socially acceptable behavior and how their behavior may negatively impact other's perspective of them.

Social Stories are a technique developed by Carol Gray which helps people with autism learn how to behave appropriately through 'reading' and understanding social situations in the form of a story. The method includes answers to questions that autistic people need to know when interacting correctly with others.

There are four types of sentences used in social stories: descriptive, directive, perspective, and control. Descriptive sentences describe what people do in particular social situations. They are used to describe a social setting or step-by-step directions for completing an activity. Directive sentences direct a person to an appropriate desired response. They state, in positive terms, what the desired behavior is. Directive sentences must be used correctly so they don't limit the individual's choice. The greater the number of descriptive statements, the more opportunity for the individual to supply his own responses to the social situation. The greater the number of directive statements, the more specific the cues for how the individual should respond.

A third type of sentence used in social stories is the perspective sentence. This type of sentence presents the reactions to a situation so that the individual can learn how other people perceive various events. The final type of sentence is the control sentence. This sentence identifies strategies the person can use to facilitate memory and comprehension of the social story. Thus, these sentences are added by the individual after reviewing the social story.

Carol Gray developed the social story ratio which defines the proportion of directive or control sentences to descriptive and/or perspective sentences. She suggests that for every one directive or control sentence, there should be two to five descriptive and/or perspective sentences. Directive or control sentences may be omitted entirely depending on the person and his/her needs.

Descriptive Sentence: The bell rings for the children to come in from recess. The children go to their classroom where the teacher reads a story.
Directive Sentence: I am playing during recess. The bell rings for me to come in. I stop playing and line up to come in. I follow the other children and quietly go to the classroom. When we get to the classroom, I go to my desk and sit down. I listen as my teacher reads a story.
Perspective Sentence: When the bell rings for recess to end, the teacher is happy to see all the children line up quietly and walk to their classroom. Many children are excited that they get to hear a story. The teacher likes to see the children listen. The teacher likes it when children are quiet during the story.
Control Sentence: I remember that the bell means it's time for recess to end by thinking of a teapot. I know that when it whistles, the water is done. The bell is like the whistle; when it rings, recess is done.

There are numerous ways to introduce a social story. If the person can read, then the story should be read with the person two times initially. Then the person should read the story independently every day. If the person cannot read, then they can listen to the story on an audiotape with cues for the person to turn the page as they 'read' along. The person then listens and 'reads along' with the story once a day. Once they have successfully learned to enact the skills or appropriately respond to the social situation depicted, the use of the story can be faced. This is done by reducing the number of times the story is read and only reviewing the story once a month or as necessary. Fading can also be done by rewriting the story, gradually removing directive sentences from the story.

Social stories are helpful tools to give individuals with autism appropriate ways to interact in social situations. The stories can be individualized to incorporate the specific needs of the person for whom the story is written. They can teach routines, how to do an activity, how to ask for help, and how to respond appropriately to feelings like anger and frustration. Studies are currently assessing the effectiveness of social stories, but currently they appear to be a promising method for improving the social behaviors of autistic individuals.