Abstract

Over the last decade, Carol Gray's Social Stories approach has become established as a highly effective way of teaching social and life skills to children on the autism spectrum. Taking the form of short narratives, the Stories in My Social Stories Book take children step by step through basic activities such as brushing your teeth, taking a bath and getting used to new clothes. It also helps children to understand different experiences such as going to school, shopping and visiting the doctor. These stories are written for preschoolers aged from two to six, and the book is a useful primer for all young children - but most especially those on the autism spectrum.

My Social Stories Book contains over 150 Stories, and is illustrated throughout with line drawings by Sean McAndrew, which form a visual counterpart to the text. A helpful introduction explains to parents and carers how to get the most out of the book.

Carol Gray has extensive experience of working with children with autistic spectrum disorders. She teaches at Jenison Public School in Michigan, USA, is the editor of The Morning News, a newsletter on autistic spectrum disorders, and she lectures internationally.
Over the last ten years, Carol Gray's wonderful concept of the Social Story has stood the test of time... Each family with a child who has autism needs to make room on the book self for this one
Book Reviews
My Social Stories Book is a practical guide to the use of social stories with young children. Social stories are well established as a great way to teach children with autism new skills using pictures and step-by-step explanations. The book is filled with examples of social stories covering almost every situation you could think of aimed at 2-6 Year olds, includes many day to day situations that children with autism often find confusing or frustrating. This book is value for money for those families or workers wishing to try social stories and needing ideas to get started. Families could dip into it to prepare children for new experiences and/or to help teach new skills.
Communication
My Social Stories Book offers a rich bank of material for adults who wish to support young children with ASD make sense of their environment and function more effectively in it, and may hopefully become a tool in rigorous empirical research into the effectiveness of social stories.
Debate
While intended mainly for autistic children, the clear, patient explanations of basic skills and situations could well be of use to any young child... The jolly black and white line drawings help bring reassurance to life skills and to situations children find themselves. In. "A Note to Parents and Professionals" gives the background for the stories and advice as to how they should be used.
Healthy Books