A social story is an evidence-based practice (EBP) for working with students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (autism). There are plenty of social stories out there on TPT or blogs for almost any situation you can come up with. Then… you have a kid that breaks the mold. But who are we kidding? When you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism. So what do you do when you can’t find exactly the social story that you need?
So here are some tips for writing a social story tailored to a specific need. (I’m also shamelessly including examples from a social story I wrote that is available on Teachers Pay Teachers and Boom Learning.)
5 Steps for Writing a Social Story
1. Think of a specific problem that you encounter with a child or a class of children. Phrase it in concrete terms for yourself.
2. Come up with concrete steps for a student to follow in that situation. What appropriate behavior should the student do?
3. Write concretely and concisely.
4. I suggest using repetition. Kind of like how I keep using the word concrete. 😁
5. Make sure that you end with the social/emotional impact that doing an appropriate behavior will have on people around the student.
This particular water safety book has comprehension questions at the end, so it’s a great resource for your students who are like magnets to water.
(The comprehension questions are illustrated with SmartySymbols.)
