Helping your child to understand what will happen in a new situation

Helping your child understand what will happen in a new situation e.g. dentist/hospital/new school/holiday.

Why?

Autistic children can find new situations difficult, such as going to the dentist or hospital, going to a new school or on holiday. You can help them prepare for the new situation by using a social story.

How?

Social stories work best with children who have started to show an interest in books and have an understanding of some simple short phrases.
Social stories use simple sentences and pictures to help the child understand what is going to happen. They are written in a positive way to help the child understand that going to the new place will be okay.
The story describes and shows what the new place looks like and what will happen there.
The stories often work best if they are made personal e.g. they include pictures of the child and some of their interests.
Read the story regularly with your child so they have a chance to become familiar with the new situation before it happens.
There is a free App for iPads called 揙ur story� which you could use to write a social story. With this app you can also record a sentence for each picture. The stories in the app can be emailed and then printed.
Below is an example of a social story about going on holiday.