Making new friends and maintaining friendships can be challenging for some children, particularly those who struggle in social settings. Teaching your child or student how to act in different social scenarios can help them build friendships and have positive social interactions with their peers.
Using social stories to explain different social situations can help your child learn how to respond to social cues and interact with their peers.
Social stories are told from your child’s perspective, so be sure to customize the story to situations that they’re likely to encounter and use real people from their class to help paint a more clear understanding.
Social Story Templates
Watson’s educational consultants prepared social story templates on a number of topics including how to know when someone is really being your friend (are they teasing you or treating you kindly?), how to talk with friends, and setting appropriate boundaries with friends.
You can customize any of the prepared templates or create your own social story to fit your child or student’s needs.
Building and maintaining friendships are fundamental skills for students – help yours prepare by using social stories!
The special education resources on this page were authored by Watson Institute’s special education consultant, Phillip Mauskapf, MS, MT-BC.
These behavior stories may benefit your students. They can be downloaded, saved and edited to suit your needs. The * notation indicates the story is formatted in a Power Point presentation and the ** notation indicates a Power Point with sound narration. Each Power Point has animation included on each slide. Some occur automatically – some occur on a “click”. Feel free to send comments or questions to [email protected].
A Boss is a Boss and Not a Friend
How to Talk to My Friends – (behaviors of concern: touching, sticking out tongue)
How to Talk to My Friends – (behavior of concern: touching hair)
My Friend is Having a Rough Day
Superflex and Spider Man Can Help Me (Topic-talk nice and hands to self) (Interest Area Spider Man) (Characters based on Madrigal & Garcia Winner)
Connecting with People (Elementary level; Behavior of concern: ignoring others; Special Interest Area: George Lucas)
If you have questions or concerns about the Watson Institute’s use of this information, please contact us.