1. Social Stories
Incorporating
Social Stories
into
Pretend Play
2. What is a Social Story ?
Individualized short stories
Help a child interpret information/situations
Help a child to plan the steps of an activity
4. Social Stories can be used
with….
Everyone!
Most commonly used with Children with Autism.
Also beneficial for children with social disabilities,
bilingual students, typically developing students,
students needing PT/OT, students with a speech
delay, children with ADHD/ADD, children with OCD,
adults with autism, etc.
5. Theory of Mind
Impairment in perspective/social understanding (hard time seeing things from
any other perspective than their own and difficulty in certain social situations)
Have difficulty with understanding another person's beliefs, thoughts, point of
view.
Difficulty determining the intentions of others and how their behavior affects
others
Social situations are unpredictable which can lead to withdrawl and isolation
from social situations
Also known as mind blindness
Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan M. Leslie and Uta Frith, in 1985, published
research that suggested that children with autism do not employ a theory of
mind
According to Leslie, theory of mind plays a role in the deficits children with
autism have with childhood pretend play because it effects their capacity to
mentally represent thoughts, beliefs, and desires, regardless of whether or not
the circumstances involved are real.
6. Benefits
Describes social cues
Improves social skills and prepares the child/adult for new social
situations
Breaks down a challenging social situation into steps
Helps a child to understand rules and routines and become familiar
with the situation
Breaks down a pretend play activity to outline the steps in
performing the activity through text and pictures
Increases appropriate responding
Increases social understanding
Provides the child with the self-esteem and confidence to participate
in an activity.
Prompts socially appropriate behavior
Presents information in a clear, concise, and consistent manner with
accurate and structured information on what is happening
7. When To Use Social
Stories
The ways in which social stories can be
used is endless. A creative teacher
can use them to teach just about
anything.
8. Examples Of Social Story
Topics
Brushing teeth Putting away laundry
Washing hands Making a sandwich
Playing with a friend Going to a birthday party
Taking turns Getting your period
Sharing a toy Getting dressed
Greeting friends Dating
Joining a social activity Going to the movies
Joining a conversation Sitting appropriately
Pretend Play Playing soccer (or another sport)
Playing board games Being polite
Preparing for a sleepover Manners
Going to the supermarket Doing homework
Preparing for a trip Understanding emotions
Going on an airplane Saying sorry
Taking a bus Keeping hands to yourself
Expressing frustration Walking appropriately
Asking for a break Eating at the table
Using the bathroom Watching TV
Going to the doctor Standing too close
Playing with a sibling Using deodorant
What to do when someone pushes you Tying shoes
Eye contact Cleaning my room
waiting my turn Picking my nose
Interrupting Brushing my teeth
Figures of speech Taking a bath
Asking questions Getting a haircut
Calling out Saying I Love you
Voice control Lying
Respect
9. Types of Social Stories
Books
Read the story and discuss/act out
Interactive
Perform actions and complete certain
tasks in the story, while reading, in
order to learn a skill
10. Creating Social Stories
Decide your audience/type of learner
What Skill(s) would you like to address
What Sentence structure do you want to use
How will you evaluate its effectiveness/fade
it out
12. Sentence Structure
Descriptive Sentences objective, most frequently
used (WHAT)
Perspective sentences statements that describe
something from someone else's viewpoint (WHY)
Cooperative sentences describe how another person
will help the student
Directive sentences help the reader to identify a
suggested/appropriate response or choice in a particular
situation (PROMPTS THE BEHAVIOR)
Affirmative sentences express a commonly shared
opinion
Control sentences are statements written by the
student to identify personal strategies for handling a
situation
13. Fading out
It is important to fade out a social story gradually as
the child becomes knowledgeable in the skill area
Decreases prompt dependency
In addition the social story should be used across
many situations/people in order for the child to
generalize the skills taught in the story to other
people/situations
14. I Love to Pretend!
Social Stories
By Ellen Viola Thalhamer III
15. About the books:
“I’m a Daddy” and “Let’s Play Doctor” are social story
books that were created in order to teach children
with autism how to pretend play. For children who
are learning to pretend play and socially interact
with their peers, these books will be helpful in
guiding them through the motions of pretending to
be a daddy or a doctor. For those parents/teachers
who focus on generalization, and receptive and
expressive language, real life pictures associated
with the stories have been added to the back of the
books.
16. Book Information:
Website: www.ILovetoPretend.com
Email: ILovetoPretend@hotmail.com
17. References
Baron-Cohen S, Leslie AM, Frith U (1985).
"Does the autistic child have a 'theory of mind'?" (PDF). Cognition 21 (1): 37–46. doi:
10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8. PMID 2934210. http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~aleslie/Baron-
Cohen%20Leslie%20&%20Frith%201985.pdf. Retrieved 2008-02-16.
Leslie, A. M. (1991). Theory of mind impairment in autism. In A. Whiten, Ed., Natural
theories of mind: Evolution, development, and simulation of everyday mind reading.
Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.
Thalhamer III, Ellen Viola. I Love to Pretend! I’m a Daddy. Bloomington, Indiana: Author
House, 2010.
Thalhamer III, Ellen Viola. I Love to Pretend! Let’s Play Doctor. Bloomington, Indiana:
Author House, 2010.
The Gray Center. (unknown). Carol Gray. Retrieved October 12, 2010, from The Gray
Center for Social Learning and Understanding: http://thegraycenter.org/ssocial-
stories/carol-gray
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. (2010, September 27). Social Stories. Retrieved October 12,
2010, from Wikipedia The free Encyclopedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/social_studies
Wallin, Jason. (2004). Social Studies. Retrieved October 12, 2010, from Polyxo.com
Teaching Children with Autism: http://www.polyxo.com/socialstories/
Notas do Editor
Baron-Cohen S, Leslie AM, Frith U (1985). "Does the autistic child have a 'theory of mind'?" (PDF). Cognition 21 (1): 37–46. doi : 10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8 . PMID 2934210 . http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~aleslie/Baron-Cohen%20Leslie%20&%20Frith%201985.pdf . Retrieved 2008-02-16. Leslie, A. M. (1991). Theory of mind impairment in autism. In A. Whiten, Ed., Natural theories of mind: Evolution, development, and simulation of everyday mind reading. Cambridge, MA: Basil Blackwell.