Social Stories:

Social stories can be visually depicted stories used to teach children specific skills that they may find
confusing or difficult to understand.

Goal: Increase the child’s understanding by describing a specific situation and suggesting appropriate
responses

Type of social story Expected behavior

How to write Social Stories:

Begin by observing the child in the situation you are addressing

Try to take the child’s perspective and include his/her feelings

Also include the perspective of others along with considering possible variations

Types of sentences:

Descriptive Sentences: OBJETIVELY describe the anticipated event where a situation occurs, who is
involved, what they are doing, and why.

Perspective sentences: Describe the internal status of the person involved, their thoughts, feelings or
moods.

Directive sentences: Individualized statements of desired responses stated in a positive manner. Try to
avoid sentences starting with “do not” or definitive statements
Example:
Activity: Animal Interactions
On my schedule today Animal interaction is at
1:00, one of my friends at Nova’s Ark is doing the
presentation and the chip the monkey is the
animal that we will be learning about today.
Expectations:
I will be sitting quietly during the presentation
while my friend talks, and actively participating, I
will be respectful during the presentation
How it makes me feel: Green Zone/yellow
Chip the monkey makes me laugh, he is a cute and
is a silly monkey, sometimes being in a larger
crowd may make me feel uncomfortable and loud
noises bother me which can me go into a yellow
zone
Outcome:
I sat through the whole presentation quiet and
respectfully, and actively participated in petting
chip the monkey, my mentor will be happy and
proud and now I get to go play
Example:

Activity: Animal interaction How it makes me feel: Green Zone/yellow

Expectations: Outcome:
Activity: How it makes me feel:

Expectations: Outcome: