An Interactive Social Story

I recently made several interactive social story booklets for a student and I liked the way they turned out, so I decided to share one on my blog! As you can see in the photo, I typed the story, but where certain words should go, I typed blanks and also inserted small photos. I then laminated the pages and attached small pieces of sticky hook Velcro just above the blanks. (See photo) 

      Finally, I typed the words that belonged in the blanks, pairing them with the photos, cut them into small rectangles, laminated them, and put small pieces of sticky loop Velcro on the back. I took the pages to Kinko’s and had them bound and voila, I had a social story booklet! As I read the story, my student likes to find the correct word/photo and Velcro it onto the corresponding space. For a child with a limited attention span, this is a fun way to keep them attending to the story!  

      Social stories were developed by Carol Gray and they provide a way to teach social skills to children with autism and other disabilities. These stories provide information about certain situations that a child may find challenging that he would not understand naturally. The story describes the situation in detail and teaches basic social skills by describing the appropriate responses that would occur in that situation.

How to write a social story

• The special needs child should be the main character.
• Make the setting of the story familiar to the child.
• Specifically describe the other characters in the story, making them familiar if possible.
• Make the dialog realistic and appropriate child’s ability-level.
• The important story points should be repeated.
• If possible, use photographs of the child or his peers.
• Read the story to the child as frequently as possible.

 Carol Cray recommends at least two descriptive sentences for every directive sentence in the story. Good luck!

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