How to Write a Social Story for Autism: Examples and Templates

A social story is a short, literal narrative that walks an autistic child through a specific situation before it happens: where they will be, what will occur in order, what they will hear and see, and one thing they can do if it gets hard. Writing one takes about fifteen minutes and requires no training. Below you will find the five-sentence structure, three complete examples you can copy, and the mistakes that make a well-meaning story backfire.

What a Social Story Is and Why It Works

Carol Gray developed the Social Stories™ approach in 1991 for autistic students who understood rules but had no reliable way to predict what a new situation would actually involve. The method works by removing ambiguity. Instead of "be good at the dentist," the child gets a sequence: this room, this chair, this sound, this is when it ends.

The evidence base is real but modest. A systematic review by Karkhaneh and colleagues (2010) 3 found improvements in social skills across the reviewed trials, though sample sizes were small. More recently, Zhou (2024) 1 conducted a meta-analysis of social story interventions for preschoolers and reported significant effects on expected behaviours, with stronger results when stories were read consistently by the same adult. Wright and colleagues (2025) 2 ran ASSSIST-2, a pragmatic randomised controlled trial in UK primary schools, and found the intervention was feasible and acceptable to schools, with modest gains in social responsiveness.

Camilleri (2023) 5 offers a useful reframe: a social story works as a rule-based description that closes the gap in mutual understanding between autistic and non-autistic people, rather than "fixing" the child.

The Five Sentence Types Every Social Story Uses

Carol Gray's structure uses five sentence types. You do not need all five in every story, but you do need more descriptive sentences than directive ones.

The ratio matters. Gray recommends at least two descriptive, perspective, or affirmative sentences for every directive sentence. A story that is mostly instructions reads like a rule sheet, and children stop engaging with it.

Step-by-Step: Writing Your First Social Story

1. Name one situation. Not "behaviour at school." Pick "waiting in the lunch line" or "the fire drill."

2. Observe what actually happens. Walk the hallway. Note the sounds, the lighting, who is there, how long it lasts.

3. Write in first person, present or future tense. "I am going to the dentist," not "Children go to the dentist."

4. Add sensory detail without judgement. Write "the tool makes a buzzing sound," not "the tool is loud and scary."

5. Give one coping strategy, not five. One hand signal. One break card. One place to look.

6. End with something the child can do. Close on capability, not compliance.

7. Add images. Photographs of the real room and the real person beat clip art for concrete learners. Vandermeer and colleagues (2015) 4 found iPad-presented social stories were as effective as paper versions for young autistic children, so digital delivery is a legitimate choice.

Read the story the same way every time. Changing wording mid-use undermines the predictability that makes it work.

Social Story Example: First Day at a New School

> My name is Nora. On Monday I will go to Maple Street School.

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> My teacher is Ms. Patel. She has brown hair and glasses.

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> Ms. Patel will show me where to put my bag.

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> There will be other children in my classroom. Some of them I do not know yet.

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> We will sit at tables. I will have my own chair.

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> At 10:30 everyone goes outside for recess.

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> If I need a quiet moment, I can show Ms. Patel my blue card.

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> Ms. Patel will help me find a quiet spot.

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> Lots of children feel unsure on a first day. That is okay.

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> At 3:00 Mum will pick me up at the front gate.

Notice what is missing: no "you'll have fun," no "don't worry." Every line is checkable. The child can verify it against reality, and that is what builds trust in the story.

For families who want the narrative in book form with the child as the main character, a first day of school story template can carry the same structure with illustrations. Teachers working across a caseload may find our guide to social stories for special needs students useful for adapting one story to several children.

Social Story Example: When Plans Change

> My plan was to go to the park today.

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> The park is closed. Closed means nobody can go in.

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> The workers are fixing the swings. They need the park to be empty.

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> I might feel frustrated. Frustrated is an okay feeling.

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> Today we will go to the library instead. The library has the dinosaur books.

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> We can go to the park on Saturday.

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> When plans change, I can ask, "What are we doing instead?"

This one validates the original expectation before introducing the alternative. Skipping that first line is a common error, because the child's frustration is about the broken prediction, not the park itself. The final sentence gives a script, which turns a meltdown into a question. Parents dealing with broader worry patterns may also want to read about managing anxiety in elementary students.

Social Story Example: A Dentist Visit and Sensory Input

> I am going to the dentist on Tuesday.

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> The dentist office has bright lights. The lights help the dentist see inside my mouth.

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> I will sit in a big chair. The chair moves up slowly.

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> The dentist uses a small tool. The tool makes a buzzing sound. The buzzing means it is cleaning my teeth.

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> The buzzing lasts a short time.

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> If I need a break, I can raise my left hand. The dentist will stop.

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> After the dentist, we will go home and I can have quiet time with my headphones.

Naming the sensory input and explaining its purpose is the whole technique here. For hospital and medical appointments with more steps, our guide to hospital social stories covers longer sequences.

Adapting Social Stories by Age and Communication Level

Match complexity to listening comprehension, not reading level. A child who reads fluently may still process spoken explanation at a simpler level, so read every story aloud before deciding it is too short.

For minimally verbal children, use the same image for the same concept every single time. Zhou (2024) 1 found consistency of delivery was associated with stronger outcomes in preschool populations.

Older children can co-author. Asking "what should the last line say?" often produces a better control sentence than anything an adult writes.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Emotional reassurance. "You'll be fine" is unverifiable. If it turns out not to be fine, the story loses credibility.

Too much detail. Fifteen sentences about a haircut will not be remembered. Six will.

Commands disguised as sentences. "I will sit quietly and not shout" is a rule, not a description.

Overgeneralising. "Everyone likes school assemblies" is false, and literal thinkers notice.

Using it as correction. Social stories are preventative. Reading one to a child who is already dysregulated adds demand to an overloaded system. Wait until calm, then read it before the next occurrence.

Inconsistency between adults. Wright (2025) 2 noted that school-based implementation worked best when staff used the same story and the same wording. Share the file with teachers, therapists, and anyone else involved.

Tools and Templates

Free templates are available through Do2Learn and the Carol Gray Social Stories site. For digital versions, Pictello and Book Creator let you add photographs and voice narration in one file, which matters because Vandermeer (2015) 4 found tablet-presented stories performed comparably to printed ones.

A plain Google Doc works too. Insert a photo above each sentence, share it with the school, and everyone reads the identical version.

Some parents find that a personalised story in which their own child is the named character increases engagement, since the child sees themselves managing the situation successfully rather than watching a stranger do it.

Key Takeaways

• A social story describes facts and sequence, never emotions or commands like "don't be scared."
• Effective stories use five sentence types: descriptive, perspective, directive, affirmative, and control.
• Karkhaneh (2010) found social stories produced measurable improvement in social skills across 6 of 6 reviewed studies.
• Introduce the story 3 to 7 days before the event, then reread it the morning of.
• Social stories prevent anxiety before a situation; they rarely calm a child mid-meltdown.