Materials: Socially Directed Stories
The following socially directed story was created for a preschooler diagnosed with
pervasive developmental disorder (PDD). The only child, with his parents expecting a
baby soon, we designed a tailored story to address the upcoming changes. This is a
preview of the beginning. The story contains a second and third section as well. The
student disliked noises, so the second section addressed crying. The third section
addressed good ideas and "not-so-good" ideas for a baby and a big brother.
Big Brother Adam
The preschooler is now entering kindergarten and happily plays with his one-year-old
sister. His parents reported that he often "quoted" good ideas from his story, as well as
gave reasons why Alexa might be crying.
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The next example was created for a developmentally delayed kindergarten student, who
presented with significant social deficits, as well as gross and fine motor difficulties. The
student continued to parallel play, while his five and six-year-old peers interacted. The
socially directed story addressed the next basic step of interactive play, which typically
follows parallel play: playing in the same vicinity with the same stimuli. This previews the
"rules" section, where it was outlined visually what the same vicinity (e.g., room) and same
stimuli (e.g., toys) meant.
Playing Together
The student, who now attends first grade attended the first birthday party that his parents
claim "was a real invite! He was selected among the other first graders by this boy who
could only have 7 friends to his bowling birthday party." Initially, upon introduction of this
story, which was read each morning before school, the student never engaged in
interactive play. His parallel play was slowly replaced by more age-appropriate play,
using this story, as well as a small visual reminder of the "rules" within his classroom. You
can see the visual reminders below, which was printed onto 3 x 5 note cards for the
student to place in his pocket and for his teacher to implement in her classroom.
Visual Reminder
