The New Social Story Book

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: 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: 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: TRAVELING THROUGH PARTS UNKNOWN
Review: There are a lot of good points that are covered in this book. Many people with Asperger's, which is a neurobiological condition that is on the same spectrum as autism often miss social cues. Facial expressions, expected responses and nonverbal nuances are often not readily obvious to people with Asperger's. Many people with Asperger's Syndrome find having tasks broken down into a sequence of steps a helpful approach in processing information.

Carol Gray's book does accomplish this. This work also covers "empathy," a concept that many people with Asperger's find challenging. Empathy, or the ability to mentally and emotionally put oneself in the place of another person is something that many people with Asperger's have to be taught cognitively. This is not to suggest that people on the autism spectrum do not care about people; such is not the case at all. Empathy or being able to "see" from the vantage point of another is yet another skill that is broken down into manageable steps in this book.

Adults on the spectrum might find this a helpful tool. It provides a clear picture of how people navigate through social territory and often find mountains and road blocks instead of a clear path.

Rating:
Summary: TRAVELING THROUGH PARTS UNKNOWN
Review: There are a lot of good points that are covered in this book. Many people with Asperger's, which is a neurobiological condition that is on the same spectrum as autism often miss social cues. Facial expressions, expected responses and nonverbal nuances are often not readily obvious to people with Asperger's. Many people with Asperger's Syndrome find having tasks broken down into a sequence of steps a helpful approach in processing information.

Carol Gray's book does accomplish this. This work also covers "empathy," a concept that many people with Asperger's find challenging. Empathy, or the ability to mentally and emotionally put oneself in the place of another person is something that many people with Asperger's have to be taught cognitively. This is not to suggest that people on the autism spectrum do not care about people; such is not the case at all. Empathy or being able to "see" from the vantage point of another is yet another skill that is broken down into manageable steps in this book.

Adults on the spectrum might find this a helpful tool. It provides a clear picture of how people navigate through social territory and often find mountains and road blocks instead of a clear path.

Rating:
Summary: Good resource book, lots of example stories.
Review: This book contains hundreds of sample social stories. Kids with autism or other social challenges often behave better when they understand what the expectations are for a given situation. A simple "social story" can state the expectations in an objective, easily understandable form. I have used many of the stories from this volume, and also have written several "custom" stories, based on the instructions included. They have helped my son a lot. If the child can't read, or even if the child CAN read, you will want to read the story aloud a time or two.

Rating:
Summary: This book improves social understanding!
Review: This is a direct, effective way to improve social understanding between the child with autism and those that care for them and work on their behalf.