What the heck is a social story?
It sounds like your daughter’s teacher is using a popular method that many teachers, psychologists, social workers, speech therapists, parents, and others have found to be helpful in teaching social skills to people with autism. They’re short, concrete depictions of social events that outline what behavior is expected in that particular situation and why. They’re meant to help children better understand social stuff by showing some very specific, correct ways of responding to many kinds of normal situations. These stories are often used because children with autism have various social challenges where they might, for example, misunderstand social cues. That is, they often can’t “read” a person’s facial expression or body language, can’t gauge what others will do or say, and have trouble knowing what people expect in social situations. As an example, the following could be a social story for a child who has difficulty greeting others: There are many ways to greet someone. When I see som
