Social Stories For Kids: Why Use Them?

I'm going to cut right to the chase...

Because they allow the lightbulb to go on QUICKLY. For many children, especially those on the Autism Spectrum, with Executive Functioning Delays and/or cognitive delays using fewer words and more pictures is THE way to go. 


Let me ask you this, think back to the last time you had to follow directions in order to assemble something. Could you have done it as easily without the directions? What about if it was quite complicated and you had no pictures to show you where things went or outline the steps? I'm going to say that it would be frustrating AND it would take much longer. 


We must consider this when we are trying to help children learn a new skill. A Social Story:

• Provides a plan
• Instructs in a way that MOST children learn best {especially those populations mentioned above}
• Can be used to teach most ANY concept {safety, hygiene, problem solving, behavior etc..]

Traditionally Social Stories ,{developed by Carol Gray of The Gray Center}, were written with very explicit requirements. They have now evolved into the more common Comic Book Conversations {CBC} that use pictures, stick drawings and symbols to express concepts and ideas for children. CBCs are used most frequently in early intervention settings with phenomenal results. 

There are many tutorials and resources out there to help you learn how to make a Social Story. Please don't get bogged down in the "rules" and jump in. To help, I have created a board on our Pinterest site with suggestions found from around the web. Take a look and get started~don't worry if you aren't an artist! You can use symbols from real life {restaurant symbols and pictures of household objects} or one of the great apps out there that easily allow you to drag and drop to make what you need on the fly. Go to iTunes and do a search for Social Stories and you'll be all set. 

As always, thanks for reading and until next time...

Keep helping your kiddos BLOOM!


Jen

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