Social situations: a 1 minute guide about autism
Children with Autism can find social situations difficult. Why?
- They can have a reduced understanding of social norms and why to stick to them
- They do not always pick up on other people’s social cues
- They can have strong ideas about how things ‘should’ be
What is a Social Story?
Social Stories™ are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which explain what to expect in that situation and why. They help children with Autism to understand social situations and use socially appropriate behaviour.
Social Stories™ are written in a specific way and must be written by a trained professional. There are many Social Stories™ available online on specific situations which you can download. However, it can work well when a situation is written specifically with your child in mind. You might want to write your own ‘Social Situation’ for them.
How can I write a Social Situation?
- Pinpoint and observe a situation that is difficult for the child, e.g. working in a group, coping with a change in teacher, understanding when to be quiet, etc.
- Look at the situation from all sides, but focus on the child’s angle.
- Use a mixture of sentence types
- Descriptive: Provide basic facts about what can be seen
- Perspective: Provide simple information about why things happen
- Directive: Prompt the child’s appropriate behaviour.
Make sure that there are at least 3 descriptive or perspective sentences for every directive sentence. This will help the child understand why they should do something. It should not just be a list of rules.
For example:
- Knowing when to stop joking.
- My name is Joseph. I have a great sense of humour and I like to make people laugh.
- Other people like to laugh at my jokes, but sometimes they are not in the mood for a joke.
- They might be busy doing their work or talking to somebody else.
- When people say: “it’s not funny anymore” that means I have to stop.
- I can do something else that I find fun, like playing PS4 or watching YouTube.
- Then everyone will be happy.
How do you use a Social Story?
- Read it with the child frequently
- Encourage the child to read it whenever they need to
- Add pictures to make it more concrete
