Topic 3: Social Stories

Social stories are one of the most commonly available supports for people with ASD. First developed by Carol Gray in the early 1990s, social stories can be used to teach new skills or routines to children with ASD or to explain others' behaviors (Gray, 2017b). Social stories can reduce or eliminate anxiety and stress by adding preparation for the new event. Social stories answer six questions (where, when, who, what, how, and why) to give context about a particular situation. They use short, simple sentences and present information objectively, keeping the perspective of the person with ASD in mind. Gray has developed 10 criteria for creating a social story that meets the definition of an official social story:

"A social story accurately describes a context, skill, achievement, or concept according to 10 defining criteria. These criteria guide story research, development, and implementation to ensure an overall patient and supportive quality, and a format, "voice", content, and learning experience that is descriptive, meaningful, and physically, socially, and emotionally safe for the child, adolescent, or adult with autism" (Gray, 2017b).

You can view the most current version of the 10 criteria for Social Stories on this chart.

Learn more about Carol Gray and Social Stories by watching this video on Carol Gray's website.

Ideally, each social story is created for a particular child, but you can make a general social story available for parents or caregivers to adapt for their children. Social stories for libraries can help those with autism prepare for a general library visit or for attending a specific program. Social stories contain both images and words and walk children with ASD through the library visit or program exactly as they will experience it. The Association of Senior Children's and Education Librarians (ASCEL) provides a sample social story about visiting the library from Chelmsford Library and a social story template that all libraries can adapt and make available on their own websites. Both are available on ASCEL's Autism Friendly Libraries page. Libraries and Autism: We're Connected also has a social story template, "This is My Library" available on the "Use These Resources" section of its website.

Read the sample social stories available from ASCEL and Libraries and Autism: We're Connected. Brainstorm some ways you can adapt these materials to your library. What would you add to make the story unique to your library?

References

Gray, C. A. & Garnad, J. D. (1993). Social stories: Improving responses of students with autism with accurate social information. Focus on Autistic Behavior 8(1), 1-10. DOI: 10.1177/108835769300800101.

Gray, C. (2017a). Overview. Carol Gray Social Stories. Retrieved from http://carolgraysocialstories.com/social-stories/.

Gray, C. (2017b). What is a social story? Carol Gray Social Stories. Retrieved from http://carolgraysocialstories.com/social-stories/what-is-it/.