This document provides tips for using social stories to help children with autism spectrum disorders understand social situations and expectations. Social stories are brief descriptive stories that explain social cues, activities, and rules in concrete terms. They should be written from the child's perspective and include descriptive, perspective, and directive sentences. When using social stories, they should be read to the child in a calm setting and the desired behavior should be modeled. The stories can then be read just before relevant social situations.

1. Autism Spectrum Disorders
Tips & Resources
Tip Sheet 27
Social Stories
Social expectations are typically learned by example. People with communication difficulties and/or
behavior problems sometimes need more explicit instructions. Social stories are meant to help children
understand social situations, expectations, social cues, new activities, and/or social rules. They make the
abstract more concrete. As the name implies, they are brief descriptive stories that provide accurate
information regarding a social situation. Knowing what to expect can help children with challenging
behavior act appropriately in a social setting.
 WRITING A SOCIAL STORY
Begin by observing the child in the situation you are addressing. Try to take on the childʼs perspective
and include aspects of his or her feelings or views in the story. Also, include common occurrences in the
social situation and the perspective of others along with considering possible variations. Social Stories
contain three types of sentences:
1) Descriptive – describes the situation, who is involved, what they are doing, and why.
Example: "At recess, there are many children playing with the ball."
2) Perspective – describes the reactions and feelings of the student and of other people.
Example: "When I take the ball without asking, it makes the other children angry."
3) Directive – tells student what to do.
Example: "When I want to play with the ball, I will ask the other children first."
 PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE
• Read the story to the child in a location with few distractions.
• Briefly explain the importance of the social story.
o For example, discuss with Johnny the importance of sharing – making friends, getting
along.
• Read through the story once or twice and, when necessary, model the desired behavior.
o For example, after reading with Johnny his social story on sharing, the adult plays with one of
Johnnyʼs favorite toys. Johnny is encouraged to ask for the toy and respond appropriately.
• If appropriate, create a schedule for the child in which the story is read at the same time and in the
same way each time.
• Read the story just prior to a situation in which the problem behavior is likely to occur, if
appropriate.
Rev.0612
Prepared by: The TAP Center at The University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign www.theautismprogram.org