My son needs visuals in order to concentrate on the spoken message, so we do books with a few sentences of text on each page (in Comic Sans font) along with a photo or computer images (I use www.images.google.com). I am not strict with the ratio of sentences types and often "hide" my message in a story involving a favorite cartoon character. I make the pages to fit in 4x6 mini photo albums.
Since the books are visual and interesting to him, it seems like he absorbs the message quickly so we end up reading them often in a short burst, and then just taking them out again when the mood hits us.
Examples of subjects I've done:
- fictional social story involving all his classmates, so he could learn their names and learn what happens which day (gym on Wednesdays, etc.) and what to say in various situations (like when a classmate says no to playing with him).
- fictional social story involving Lego Bionicle characters, about going to sleep by the clock instead of by the sun position (in the spring/summer here, it's still daylight long after he's gone to bed).
- social story introducing him to his diagnosis. I consider it a big success to have given him pride in his strengths and a winning attitude about his challenges.
We have the Carol Gray illustrated book of social stories, but there's only one black and white illustration per story and since it's not personal, it fails to engage him.
Good luck with everything.
When my son was 3 y.o., we used lots of pictures. I was fortunate anough to have Pecs made available to me, and I would give a Pecs symbol to each word in the story. As he has gotten older, I write stories (I have used the SS worksheet link from Norwaymom) and I only put one Pecs symbol next to each sentence.
That said, you could draw pictures, you could find free Pecs online ( http://www.childrenwithspecialneeds.com/downloads/picturesym bols.html) or you could use real photos.
I do think that the younger the kids are the more visuals make the story work better, but I totally believe that social stories work. We have used them for haircuts, school starting, baseball games, playing with friends. I read them before the event or right after an event (like if he hit someone, we read the hitting story right away).
Once you start writing your own, you will see it's pretty easy!
Good Luck
Yes we laminate.
We use LARGE print (comic sans font) and REAL photos, only a couple sentences on each page.
We start the book the DAY BEFORE event and then GIVE the book to the child then and it is theirs.
We read it constantly the day before and during the event
It helped us tremendously and we do not do big changes without a SS - including all holidays, back to school , summer school, etc. I think SS are WONDERFUL!
Hi all-
Up until now, I havent used any social stories with Ryan. However, his OT created one for him about getting up in the morning and going to school (hes going to a new school and the transition has been tough for him) and after only 2 days, I think its working!
Now, I want to create social stories for many other areas in his life that are difficult for him (haircuts, sharing, etc). I know NorwayMom posted a ton of links to sample stories a few months ago and I plan to check those out.
For those of you that use these, can you provide me with some specifics such as:
Would love to hear any success stories out there....
I have been putting the social stories into page protectors and then into a folder. I usually use a computer graphic that is cutesy, it gets my DD's attention. She also has social stories her teachers use, and they also use computer graphics.
She had a great picture schedule that was in page protectors and a binder for her pre-school class a few years ago. They had a great schedule and were able to photograph each major activity throughout the day. This helped alot. DD would sit and look through the book, then we would discuss what the next day's activities would be.