Writing Social Stories™ Part 2

So what did you think of that social story example in part 1  http://wp.me/p2MVJu-ng …

Don’t hurt others at playtimes. Rosy, you have been hurting other children at playtimes. This is wrong. If you hurt other children they will tell the teacher on duty and you will have to go inside and sit outside the head teachers room. You MUST not be too rough in the playground. It is up to the big children to stop and check themselves from time to time to make sure they are playing nicely. If you do this your teacher and your mum and dad will be pleased and you can stay at our school.

I hope you said something like this…

• It is negative.
• It is written in the wrong perspective “you” rather than “I”.
• What exactly does being too rough mean?
• It is threatening.
• If it was taken literally – what does ”stop and check yourself” mean?
• It says MUST – makes it easy to fail.
• Why would you want to please the teacher after being spoken to like this?

So here is an example of the same situation written in the proper Social Story™ format…

Rosy can play nicely at playtimes

My name is Rosy and I am in class 5 at Leafy Lane School.

We have a playtime in the morning and after we have eaten our lunch.

I like to play with the infant children at playtimes. It is good to have

friends to play with.  These are my friends in the infants.

The children in the infants are smaller than me. This is because they

are younger and have not grown as tall as me yet.

I am a kind friend.   I like to play nice games with my friends.

Sometimes children might bump into one of their friends or hold them

tightly when they are playing together.

People don’t like it if they are held tightly or when someone bumps

into them. They might fall or cry because they are hurt

I can try to hold someone gently when I am playing.  My friends will try to hold me gently too.

This can help me and my friends be happy and playtimes will be fun.

Well done Rosy and her friends!

So what would you say was the difference? Think about it and I’ll explain some more in the next post.