Writing a Social Story: Tips for Success

Feb 21, 2019

We’ve blogged about social stories before, but social stories continue to be an important tool to use in classrooms!

socAnd not just for our students with special needs! Because students are so plugged into their devices, they aren’t always as in tune with the real world and they struggle with things like transitions, unexpected behaviors, and social interactions with both adults and peers. What works on social media for interaction doesn’t necessarily translate to face-to-face interactions, so we can use social stories to help students learn what to do when, for example, a friend doesn’t want to play with you or something similar. Read more about the different benefits of social stories here and here!

So, we know they are important, but how do we write a good social story??

Two New Resources!

storyboardThis storyboard is a tool I’ve used during my trainings and I love how simple it is (click here or on the image to download a PDF)! There are boxes at the top of the page to show what’s happening in the story, and there are lines below the boxes to write the social story.

Now that you’ve got a template, here are tips for writing a good social story! It doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, it shouldn’t be! Social stories must be very basic and straightforward. Avoid conversation and feelings, and keep it descriptive! Check out these tips (click here or on the image to download a PDF)!

Writing a Social Story

Two more things…

Check out this post for a ton of cool technology tools you can use to create digital social stories.

Don’t forget about our behavior resources page – especially the social stories packet created by my friend Laura Scott that includes: Sitting in My Own Space, Morning/Afternoon Routine, Starting My Work, Telling A Story to Others, In the Lunchroom, Writing, My Bus Routine, Bathroom Routine, Hands to Myself, Fire Drill, Break Area, Asking a Friend to Play. 

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