In So Many Words

The New Social Story Book, Revised and Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition
Over 150 Social Stories!

by Carol Gray
Future Horizons, 2010
265 pages

About the Book

Social Stories™ provide REAL social understanding! Carol Gray developed the Social Story™ in 1991 to promote social understanding in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Now, nearly twenty years after their inception, Social Stories have become a standard approach for teachers and parents all over the globe, and the stories are more effective than ever!

This 10th Anniversary Edition of The New Social Story™ Book offers over 150 of the most requested Social Stories, each one professionally written by Carol Gray. But it doesn’t end there—Carol also teaches you how to write Social Stories yourself! Years of experience and trial-and-error have led to updated Story guidelines. Carol explains her fine-tuned process in the included ten-step learning module The Social Story™ 10.1 Tutorials—perfect for parents and teachers!

INSIDE ARE GEMS SUCH AS:

• Mistakes Can Happen on a Good Day
• It Was Fun but Now We’re Done
• When It Is My Turn to Listen
• Saying What I Think with Respect
• Learning to Respond to Bullying
• Telling My Teacher about a Problem
• Fire Drills at School
• Moving to a New Home
• Children Grow Kind Of Slow
• The Truth about Messes
• This Place is Busy
• and DOZENS MORE!

PLUS, to jump-start your story-writing journey, this book comes with a CD containing each Social Story in ready-to-print PDFs AND easy-to-edit Word files! With the CD, you can customize story content and insert images relevant to your child or student’s individual experiences. An invaluable bonus!

My Thoughts

I can’t tell you how fast I jumped at the opportunity to review this book! I have loved Carol Gray and Social Stories for years and am so thankful for teachers and therapists who have helped me write stories for my son on a variety of topics.

With these resource, I can definitely take it to the next level. Not only can I use the stories in the book as they are, I can also modify them for specific situations using the included CD, or I can follow the 10-step tutorial in the beginning of the book to write my own custom social stories.

My son and I have actually read sections of it as part of our bedtime routine and have been able to refer back to them when we encounter a challenging event during the day. Just recently, he has been having more difficulty with handling games, and I was able to print out the relevant stories to be read before games are played both at school and at home. Such an incredible tool to have at hand when it is needed!

Discount Opportunity: If you order The New Social Story Book directly from Future Horizons, you can use the code INTERRUPTED to receive 15% off and free shipping in the continental US.

Note: I received a review copy of this book for free, but all opinions are my own. I am an affiliate of Future Horizons and receive a small amount of compensation for any sales made using the promotional code provided. You can use the code INTERRUPTED when ordering books or other materials – or even conference registrations – to receive 15% off plus free shipping in the continental US.

Although my reading lately has involved a number of toy catalogs and other holiday magazines, I have still managed to squeeze in some books for me! Here’s what I have open at the moment:

American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld

Having enjoyed reading her previous novels, Prep and The Man of My Dreams, I was inspired to pick this one up as well. I am just a couple of chapters into it and am so refreshed by how good her writing is. I tend to read a lot of light contemporary fiction (both Christian and secular) and, while some of the authors are very skilled, much of it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of depth.

My Social Stories Book by Carol Gray and Abbie Leigh White

This is a collection of Social Stories for young children, many of them illustrated and even having step by step directions. As Carol Gray says in the introduction, these stories “describe what most of us dismiss as obvious, patiently considering the world through the eyes of a child with an ASD. A Social Story can inform, reassure, instruct, console, support, praise, and correct children with ASD and those who work on their behalf.”

Last night we read the stories about brushing teeth because Michael was very upset about a new loose tooth that he has. He has already lost three, but this one is coming right at the time when he is very sensitive to the concept of loss. He was crying about the mommy and daddy teeth hating the baby teeth and pushing them out of the way and saying that he wanted them to stay together. We worked through it, but sometimes I think our tendency to personify objects with human characteristics definitely backfires!

Visit 5 Minutes for Books for more What’s On Your Nightstand? links or to post your own.

There are so many books and other resources for understanding and developing social skills, and I have to admit that I have not read much in this area yet. So I am actually looking for recommendations on what people have found helpful, especially as their kids were entering elementary school.

Although it may or may not be relevant to our immediate concerns, I am very interested to read The Unwritten Rules of Social Relationships: Decoding Social Mysteries Through the Unique Perspectives of Autism by Temple Grandin and Sean Barron.

Another book that looks promising is The Hidden Curriculum: Practical Solutions for Understanding Unstated Rules in Social Situations by Brenda Smith Myles, Melissa L. Trautman and Ronda L. Schelvan.

The biggest resource I personally have used so far in this area is Social Stories™ by Carol Gray, and I can’t even begin to tell you how helpful they have been. Once you learn the guidelines for writing them, you can easily create one for any situation. Visit The Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding to find information on these, as well as a variety of related topics, such as adolescence and bullying.

At the Penn State Autism Conference last year, Dr. Scott Bellini from the Indiana Resource Center for Autism presented on Building Social Relationships. It was a fascinating workshop, despite the fact that there was a fire drill in the middle of it (many of us thought he was trying to give an example of sensory overload, but it was real)! The IRCA website also has in-depth articles on a wide range of topics, including several contributed by Temple Grandin.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions!