Rating: 
Summary: Using social stories
Review: A good basic giude for the beginner.Although it uses situations found in mainstream educational settings these can be adapted to suit the individual.The Social story kit at the back is a useful tool for those who want to write their own story and as a reminder for those who have been to a seminar by Carol herself. I teach children with Autistic spectrum disorders in England and have been able to use the stories with my students, translating some of the Americanisms into English!
Rating: 
Summary: Please stop simplifying autism
Review: As either "this technique works, so it will work for everyone", or "it didn't work for those with whom I volunteered, so it must not work with anyone with autism". To say so is a MAJOR disservice to those for whom these techniques were designed to help, and creating some imaginary 'competition' between techniques negates the purpose of instituting multiple methodologies for the treatment and support of people with autism.I think Baron-Cohen/Hill/Golan/Wheelwright's Mind Reading program looks like an exciting new technique to assist people with autism in understanding emotion, especially those who are either high-functioning or Aspie. But as someone who has spent the last several years working in the field of PDDs and Autistic Spectrum Disorders, I can tell you sincerely that Carol Gray's social stories are as necessary to our line of work as a calculator is to an accountant. I can also tell you that there is no ONE technique that is the end-all-be-all of autism support and treatment-- there are no hard and fast rules here as all people with autism are as different from each other as anyone else, and will all respond differently to various methodologies. Professionals, parents and caregivers know that to help a person with autism succeed, they must furnish them with many tools-- social stories being only one of these. But anyone who thinks that social stories are redundant or are too "touchy-feely" for any practical use has obviously not spent any quality time teaching people with autism to perform all of the day-to-day activities that you and I take for granted. Simply put: social stories couldn't be more practical. Two of the defining characteristics of autism are difficulty perceiving social cues/functioning in social settings and a prevalence toward visual learning. Pairing a very visual setting (i.e. pictures of the social situation) with a breakdown of the social exchanges may help a person with autism see the target behavior more clearly than just "telling" him or her how to behave, or simply expecting them to know how to perform in social situations. Adding upon social stories with other techniques such as role-play, what-if scenarios, contingencies and options mapping can give very positive results. And one of the most rewarding results is the increased level of self confidence that emerges from knowing what to expect in social situations. Predictability in autism is everything, after all. There is a great deal of information and "serious research" on the use of social stories available to anyone who is willing to look it up. Carol Gray's method has been with us for a long time, and for good reason-- it works.
Rating:
Summary: Please stop simplifying autism
Review: As either "this technique works, so it will work for everyone", or "it didn't work for those with whom I volunteered, so it must not work with anyone with autism". To say so is a MAJOR disservice to those for whom these techniques were designed to help, and creating some imaginary 'competition' between techniques negates the purpose of instituting multiple methodologies for the treatment and support of people with autism. I think Baron-Cohen/Hill/Golan/Wheelwright's Mind Reading program looks like an exciting new technique to assist people with autism in understanding emotion, especially those who are either high-functioning or Aspie. But as someone who has spent the last several years working in the field of PDDs and Autistic Spectrum Disorders, I can tell you sincerely that Carol Gray's social stories are as necessary to our line of work as a calculator is to an accountant. I can also tell you that there is no ONE technique that is the end-all-be-all of autism support and treatment-- there are no hard and fast rules here as all people with autism are as different from each other as anyone else, and will all respond differently to various methodologies. Professionals, parents and caregivers know that to help a person with autism succeed, they must furnish them with many tools-- social stories being only one of these. But anyone who thinks that social stories are redundant or are too "touchy-feely" for any practical use has obviously not spent any quality time teaching people with autism to perform all of the day-to-day activities that you and I take for granted. Simply put: social stories couldn't be more practical. Two of the defining characteristics of autism are difficulty perceiving social cues/functioning in social settings and a prevalence toward visual learning. Pairing a very visual setting (i.e. pictures of the social situation) with a breakdown of the social exchanges may help a person with autism see the target behavior more clearly than just "telling" him or her how to behave, or simply expecting them to know how to perform in social situations. Adding upon social stories with other techniques such as role-play, what-if scenarios, contingencies and options mapping can give very positive results. And one of the most rewarding results is the increased level of self confidence that emerges from knowing what to expect in social situations. Predictability in autism is everything, after all. There is a great deal of information and "serious research" on the use of social stories available to anyone who is willing to look it up. Carol Gray's method has been with us for a long time, and for good reason-- it works.
Rating:
Summary: Covers all the basics!
Review: As the parent of an 8 year old with AS, I am constantly wondering if I am handling ALL the basic every day living skills. This book has it ALL! Social skills, interacting with people (community, school, and at home), and personal hygiene. The only chapter of the book, I felt didn't address the subject, was 11. My son had SO many questions as we read each story in that chapter. I guess that was good to some degree, we would then do some research to answer his questions. Some stories seemed so "common sense" when I first read them, but then I realized, what is common sense to me isn't common sense to a child with AS. I initially wanted to just quickly browse through this book when it arrived, but I found myself reading page after page for a little more than half an hour. My son and I are constantly picking up this book and going over stories together, even the ones he has already mastered. He enjoys the fact that he knows the answers, and every once in a while will add a tidbit. I find this book is great for the whole family to enjoy. This ia a must for any parent who has a child with AS.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for reference only not direct use w/ kids-no pictures!!
Review: Buy this book only if you can't come up with appropriate social stories for your child(ren) on your own. I did not realize there were no illustrations with this book and there were only a handful of stories that were appropriate for my child. I ended up writing my own stories and drawing my own cartoons. In essence, the book provided little value to me or to my child.
Rating: 
Summary: Its a start
Review: I do voluntary work with Asperger adolescents and I have yet to find any serious research in support of 'social stories'. Admittedly they are pitched at low functiong young children, but the heuristics are so general and traditional (and so widespread in visualisation therapies in general) that it is nigh on impossible to extract a testable method. This book is an example from a genre for kids with special needs that bases its 'methodology' on repackaging the obvious. To be fair a minority of parents may find that helpful, and good luck to them. But how does one distinguish between the contributions a good teacher makes to a child's improvement, and any contribution from social stories? I have no idea. A different and more research grounded approach is taken by Howlin and Baron-Cohen: Teaching children with Autism to mind read. However,it is horses for courses, and parents may prefer the 'touchy feely' hue of Social Stories. Personally I would want something stronger than anecdotal reports.
Rating: 
Summary: Where is the scientific evidence for the method?
Review: I do voluntary work with Asperger adolescents and I have yet to find any serious research in support of 'social stories'. Admittedly they are pitched at low functiong young children, but the heuristics are so general and traditional (and so widespread in visualisation therapies in general) that it is nigh on impossible to extract a testable method. This book is an example from a genre for kids with special needs that bases its 'methodology' on repackaging the obvious. To be fair a minority of parents may find that helpful, and good luck to them. But how does one distinguish between the contributions a good teacher makes to a child's improvement, and any contribution from social stories? I have no idea. A different and more research grounded approach is taken by Howlin and Baron-Cohen: Teaching children with Autism to mind read. However,it is horses for courses, and parents may prefer the 'touchy feely' hue of Social Stories. Personally I would want something stronger than anecdotal reports.
Rating:
Summary: Best for young or low/mid functioning students
Review: I hoped this book would help me help my teenage high functioning autistic son navigate the social jungles of middle and high school. The introductory material and the tutorial on writing social stories were valuable. The stories were not, though they would have been helpful when my son was in day care and early elementary grades. Printed in large (18 point) type and triple/quadruple spaced, the stories focus on situations that the higher functioning autistic has already mastered: standing in line, eating with utensils, dressing, grooming, raising one's hand to speak. These are situations in which the correct (socially acceptable) rote action, once learned and applied, makes life easier for everyone. Social stories seem less well suited to helping autistic students navigate situations where rote actions or responses are inadequate. Examples include situations of sensory overload or sensory hypersensitivity, where the autistic person's socially incorrect behavior is not entirely under his or her control, recognizing teasing and threats, or understanding ambiguous social signals.
Rating:
Summary: Covers all the basics!
Review: I'm a speech language pathologist working with children with autism spectrum disorders. Access to good materials for social skills/pragmatics can be difficult to obtain, but Gray's Original Social Stories book was excellent! I work with children from kindergarten to middle school and this book meet many of my needs. This new edition, however, was more than disappointing. The stories weren't written well, the illustrations had little or no connection to the stories, and the stories were not relevant to the needs of children with disabilities. I returned the book and discovered that Ms. Gray had discontinued publication of the original book to promote this new edition. Ms. Gray, please re-release the original!!! I recommended it to many collegues and it's no longer available.
Rating:
Summary: New Social Stories don't live up to the Original
Review: I'm a speech language pathologist working with children with autism spectrum disorders. Access to good materials for social skills/pragmatics can be difficult to obtain, but Gray's Original Social Stories book was excellent! I work with children from kindergarten to middle school and this book meet many of my needs. This new edition, however, was more than disappointing. The stories weren't written well, the illustrations had little or no connection to the stories, and the stories were not relevant to the needs of children with disabilities. I returned the book and discovered that Ms. Gray had discontinued publication of the original book to promote this new edition. Ms. Gray, please re-release the original!!! I recommended it to many collegues and it's no longer available.
| 
