Social stories Craig Domanski Caldwell College PS 572--Teaching Language and Social Skills to Children with Autism

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Social storiesCraig DomanskiCaldwell
CollegePS 572--Teaching Language and Social
Skills to Children with Autism
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Overview

• History
• Definitions
• Uses
• Components
• Guidelines
• 4-Term Contingency
• Example
• References

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History

• Developed by Carol Gray
• Director of The Gray Center for Social Learning
  and Understanding in Grand Rapids, Michigan
• http//www.thegraycenter.org/
• Had been a teacher of students with autism and a
  consultant to public schools for 22 years
• First defined in 1991
• Has undergone many revisions since then
• Present description
• Currently, a Social Story is considered a
  process that results in a product for a person
  with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. (Gray, pp.
  13-1)

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• Process
• Must be written with consideration for the
  perspective of the child with ASD (Gray, 13-1)
• Product
• Short story in a specialized format
• Describes a situation, concept, or social skill

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What situations are Social Stories written for?

• Are individualized based on the needs of the
  child
• Possible uses
• Troubling situations
• Describe skills that may be in the social or
  academic curriculums
• Individualize skills that are taught in a social
  skills training setting
• Break down a goal into manageable steps
• Describe a classroom routine
• Acknowledging achievement
• First story should be about something that the
  child is successful in doing
• Helps to identify with the story (Gray, pp. 13-2)

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Components of a social story

• Descriptive statements
• Backbone of the story
• The logic and accuracy of the story that
  might be reassuring to those who are overwhelmed
  by social concepts and situations. (Gray, 13-2)
• Factual statements no opinions
• Should be the most frequent types of statements
  used

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Examples of descriptive statements

• My name is Craig.
• I work in a school.
• Its hot during the summer.

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• Perspective statements
• The heart of the story
• Describe feelings, opinions, thoughts that are
  involved in a situation
• The invisible (but important) aspects of a social
  situation
• Rarely used to describe the internal events in
  the child with autism
• Used most often to refer to the other people in
  the story

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Examples of perspective statements

• My friends like to play on the playground.
• The teacher knows the answer to the math
  homework.
• Sometimes, people feel tired when they stay up
  late.

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• Directive statements
• Name the desired response or list of possible
  responses
• Tell the child what to do in a situation
• Often begin with, I will try or I can
• Avoids being taken too literally for fear of
  child not knowing theres any wiggle room
• Must be written with much consideration

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Examples of directive statements

• I will try to raise my hand.
• I can try to share the toys with my friends.
• I can decide to play with blocks, read a book,
  or color a picture.
• Offers a list of choices

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• Affirmative statements
• Express a common opinion about an element of the
  situation
• Usually accompany another type of statement in
  the story
• Basically used to
• Stress an important point
• Refer to a rule
• Reassure the reader

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Examples of affirmative statements

• Its a good idea to
• Its ok to
• ltI can ask a friend for his toy.gt Thats the
  right thing to do.

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• Partial statements
• Fill-in statements that allow the child to
  actively participate in the story
• Helps to show that the child comprehends to story

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Examples of partial statements

• If I share, my friends will be so _____.
• Mom and Dad will be so ____ if I go to bed like
  a big kid.

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The Social Story Ratio

• Applied to the story as a whole
• Desired ratio is
• 0-1 directive statements
• 2-5 descriptive, perspective, and/or affirmative
  statements

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Other kinds of statements

• Control sentences
• Identify strategies that the learner can use in a
  troubling situation
• When someone says, I changed my mind, I can
  think the idea is getting better--like a
  caterpillar turning into a butterfly. (Gray,
  13-4)
• Cooperative sentences
• Identifies the people that will help the child,
  and how they will help
• Mom and Dad can help me take deep breaths when
  Im upset.

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Guidelines

• Step 1 Picture the goal
• Important to depict all relevant information that
  will occur in a social situation
• Use text and illustrations be concrete
• Step 2 Gather information
• Include where and when the situation occurs, who
  is involved, how events are sequenced, what
  occurs, and why it occurs

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• Step 3 Individualize the text
• Remember the learning styles, needs, interests,
  and abilities of the target student
• Always use positive statements
• Step 4 Teach with the title
• Should state the overall gist of the story
• I.e., Mike Ties his Shoes

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How to implement a Social Story

• Introducing the story
• Most important element in implementation
• Introduced in a relaxed setting
• Using it punitively is not recommended
• Reviewing the story
• This is perhaps the most important element in
  the implementation of a social story. (Gray,
  13-8)
• Share joint attention with the child on the story
• Have multiple people review the story with the
  child
• Encourages generalization

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• Fading the story
• Experience indicates it may not be possible, or
  advisable, to fade a Social Story from use.
  (Gray, pp. 13-9)
• Re-write it with systematic omissions
• Use partial statements
• Review it less frequently

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Where does a Social Story lie in the 4-term
contingency?

• (Social Story for sharing a toy)
• Contextual stimulus SD
  Response Consequence
• Play setting Peer asks for
  toy Student shares Praise
• Peer present Social Story
• NOTE A Social Story would technically be
  considered a stimulus prompt, which occurs
  simultaneously (or in this case, just prior to)
  the SD

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Example of a Social StoryCraig works hard in
school

• Hi, my name is Craig.
• ltdescriptive statementgt

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• Im a big kid in Dr. Reeves PS 572 class at
  Caldwell College. ltdescriptive statementgt

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• The students in class think that class is hard.
  ltperspective statementgt
• In class, there is a lot of work. ltdescriptive
  statementgt

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• So much work makes me sad.
• When I get sad about too much work, its a good
  idea to ltaffirmative statementgt
• Stop
• Take a deep breath
• Ask for a break

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• Doing my work is important. ltaffirmative
  statementgt
• Dr. Reeve will be so happy if I do all my work.
  ltperspective statementgt

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• If I do a good job in class, Dr. Reeve will let
  me graduate. I can do it! I can graduate from
  Caldwell College!!! ltaffirmative statementgt

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References

• Gray, C. (2000). The New Social Story Book
  Illustrated Edition. Arlington, TX Future
  Horizons, Inc.
• Reynhout, G., Carter, M. (2007). Social Story
  efficacy with a child with autism spectrum
  disorder and moderate intellectual disability.
  Focus on Autism and Other Developmental
  Disabilities, 22, 173-182.
• Thiemann, K.S., Goldstein, H. (2001). Social
  stories, written text cues, and video feedback
  Effects on social communication of children with
  autism. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 34,
  425-446.
• Weiss, M.J. (2008, June). Teaching children with
  autistic spectrum disorders. Presentation given
  for Teaching Language and Social Skills to
  Children with Autism, Caldwell College.