Carol Gray, a well-recognized researcher in the area of educational intervention for individuals on the autism spectrum, has developed a technique called the Social Story that has been found helpful in explaining social situations. A Social Story is a story written for a particular individual with Asperger's in order to provide a written framework for a social situation that they encounter regularly and have difficulty working through. The story is constructed of four types of sentences:
- Descriptive sentences describe the situation in terms of cues or characteristics that can be observed whenever the situation occurs
- Perspective sentences that tell about a person's internal state such as their knowledge, feelings, beliefs, or motivations
- Directive sentences identify a suggested response or choice
of responses
- Note that these stories are a collaborative effort between
the individual with Asperger's and his or her teacher, and in
no way seek to "tell the person what to do" - the
stories aim to provide a written, visual cue as to how a situation
may be encountered and dealt with
- Affirmative sentences emphasize the other three types, often
expressing a commonly shared opinion or value within a culture.
E.g. the perspective sentence "Sometimes I get angry."
may be followed by the affirmative sentence "This is okay.
Many people get angry. "
This type of structured, written and visual cue can often be helpful to individuals with AS.
A similar type of written/visual cue called a Comic Strip Conversation can also be helpful. A social situation is illustrated similar to a comic strip. Highly salient cues to location are illustrated. Stick figures are used to represent the actors in the situation. Speech bubbles represent things that were actually said, and thought bubbles represent what the person with Asperger's was thinking and what the other individual may have been thinking. A color code is used to represent the underlying emotions or motivations. Often, adding the structure and visual cues to the situation assists the Aspergian to percieve otherwise-missed social cues.
For further reading, lookup:
- Schopler, E.; Mesibov, G.; & Kunce, L. (1998).
- Social Stories and Comic Book Conversations With Students with Asperger Syndrome and High-Funtioning Autism (Chapter by Carol A. Gray).
- New York: Plenum Press. ISBN 0-306-45746-6.
