Carol Gray's Social Stories, Comic Book Conversations and Thinking Stories are perhaps the best known
method of helping teach social behavior. Carol Gray is a consultant to students with autistic spectrum disorders with 17 years experience. She is employed by Jenison Public Schools in Jenison, Michigan. She developed and
edited The Original Social Story Book, The New Social Stories, and is the author of What's Next? Educating Students for Success in
the Community (1992), Taming the Recess Jungle (1993), and Comic Strip Conversations. In addition, she is the editor of "The Morning News", a newsletter
for autistic spectrum disorders.
The following explanations for Social Stories, Comic Book Conversations and
Thinking Stories were taken from a sample issue of
"The Morning News" which is located on Dr. Edelson's Autism Page.
Click Here to read the entire issue.
Make sure you take time to look through his extensive page.
Carol Gray is also the director of The Gray Center
a nonprofit foundation dedicated to individuals with Autistic
Spectrum Disorders and those who work alongside them to improve mutualunderstanding.
Social Stories:
"A social story is a story written according to specific guidelines to
describe a situation in terms of relevant cues and common responses (Gray & Garand,
1993). The underlying philosophy stresses the importance of "abandoning all
assumptions" - to seek to understand the student's perspective, to ensure a student
has the social information he/she needs, and to present information so it is
accessible and easily understood. As a result, every social story has a reassuring,
accepting quality - positively and matter of factly describing a specific event
(Gray et.al, 1993; Gray & Jonker et.al.,1994). Experience indicates social stories
are often effective with mid to higher functioning students from preschool to adult,
and may be applicable to students with other learning impairments as well......
Social stories are often written for individual students, reflecting an understanding
of a student's unique perception of a situation. Sometimes, considering the
social/communication impairment in autism, determining a student's perspective
can be difficult. Illustrating a conversation, like a comic strip, is often helpful.">
Comic Strip Conversations:
"Comic Strip Conversations A Comic Strip Conversation (CSC) (Gray, 1994) is
the genuine "art of conversation". This approach incorporates the use of simple
drawings and color to illustrate an ongoing communication. This provides additional
support to students who struggle to understand the quick exchange of information
in a conversation."
Thinking Stories:
"It seems logical that if people with autism have difficulty determining
what other people are thinking and feeling (Baron-Cohen, 1990; Dawson & Fernald,
1987), we should share that information. This past fall, we began using an advanced
form of social stories with high functioning secondary students, Thinking Stories.
Thinking Stories demonstrate the variety of possibilities as to what people may be
thinking when they make certain statements, or when they display certain behaviors.
What surprised us was the enthusiasm with which these stories were received.
Thinking stories follow a specific, structured format,
using picture symbols from Comic Strip Conversations to define and
illustrate the abstract concepts covered in the story.
This newsletter is edited by
Carol Gray, who has written several books on social skills, and is dedicated to
individuals with autism and other developmental delays. Address all subscriptions
to: Carol Gray, Editor
THE MORNING NEWS, Jenison High School,
2140 Bauer Road, Jenison, Michigan 49428. Phone: 616-457-8955 or FAX 616-457-4070.
To view a SAMPLE of this newsletter
Click Here
(This is a link from Dr. Edelson's Autism Page).
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