Revealing the Hidden Social Code: Social Stories for People with Autistic Spectrum Disorders

The Social Stories(TM) approach is widely acknowledged as a key technique for teaching social and life skills to children with autistic spectrum disorders. This text, endorsed by the originator of Social Stories(TM), Carol Gray, offers clear and comprehensive guidance for professionals, parents and carers on how to write successful and targeted Social Stories(TM) that will help develop the autistic spectrum child's understanding of social interaction.The book outlines the kinds of social challenges that people with ASD may experience and highlights the importance of learning social skills in meaningful contexts. An extended review of the guidelines for writing Social Stories(TM) will help writers to structure and develop their stories. The authors explain the key elements and highlight the potential difficulties that a writer may encounter, while providing encouragement and guidance through the various stages of what is often a challenging process. They include examples from their own professional experience, and suggest ways in which the Social Stories(TM) approach may enhance other strategies. Helpful advice on presentation and implementation is provided.Revealing the Hidden Social Code is essential reading for any professional, parent, carer or teacher wanting to employ Social Stories(TM) to develop social understanding in people with ASDs.

Marie Howley is a senior lecturer with the Centre for Special Needs Education and Research (SESNER) team at University College Northampton. She has extensive experience as a specialist teacher working with children and adults with autistic spectrum disorders and has co-authored many books, including Accessing the Curriculum for Pupils with Autistic Spectrum Disorders. Eileen Arnold is a former specialist speech and language therapist. She has extensive practice of using Social StoriesTM in a wide range of settings and has worked closely with Carol Gray. She is currently consultant to, and lectures and presents for the Northamptonshire Society for Autism.