Social Stories for Language Development
What is a social story?
Social stories are short and simple narratives that tell a specific story in order to set expectations, decrease anxiety, and teach rules. They can also teach children how to respond or act in certain situations.
Social stories for our students
Anyone! Social stories are frequently used for kids with social/pragmatic disorders but anyone can learn from them.
Social stories may also benefit children with…
Anxiety
Autism
Sensory Processing Disorders
ADD/ADHD
Behavior Difficulties
Social Skill Deficits
At Home, At School, In Speech Therapy
Social stories can be helpful in the home environment, classroom, or in a therapy session.
At home, parents can use social stories to help prepare their children for new situations and share expectations for the event. If you are a parent, try to introduce the story 1-2 weeks before the event. If you are a therapist, try to send the story home 1-2 weeks before the event, after you have read the story once or twice in therapy.
In the classroom, social stories can be used as a whole group or small group activity. Consider reading the story before an event to the entire class. If time does not allow for that, consider reading the story to a small group of children that you believe will benefit from additional support before an event.
As a speech therapist, social stories serve as a base for social skills, language development, reading comprehension, and more. Examples of social skills that can be targeted in a social story include:
Taking Turns
Sharing
Greetings/Farewells
Introducing themselves
Initiating and maintaining conversation
Our SOcial Stories
Our favorite social stories are simple, easy to read, and easy to comprehend. You can always make the stories yourself. If you do, it’s great to include personalized touches such as the student’s name and pictures in the story. Some students are able to relate better to the story and remember it when they are included in the story.
However, to limit prep time and planning, we have some favorites here for you!
Tag us on Instagram and share ALL your social story activities. We cannot wait to see how this helps your students!
