Social stories

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Is it just me or are "social stories" kinda gaslighty? I don't mean the ones that show and tell kids what they will see, hear or smell, but ones that tell them how they will feel. "I will have fun"

Have heard of "social studies", but never of "social stories".

Must be something from after my time in school.

I think it's made by individuals who treats NDs like NTs who do not know any better...


I'm sure that social stories are not as well used.
But if it is, it's paired with some sort of therapy or/and social skills training.

Because those stories are just theorical scenarios of one 'should' do in social settings and the idea of what is 'good'.

To me, it's just an additional GMRC subject paper and pencil quiz.

In actuality, it doesn't fully help socialization more predictable -- but it does make someone more predictable. Which is a no-no to me.

Anyone who realizes that it's an naive idea of sociality wouldn't play along -- it's somewhat a 'basic' to NT kids to realize this if they're socialized enough.

Unless it's really their culture (not very common), or it's really their personality (their terms aligns with the stories), or if one is actually too underdeveloped that they blindly assume it's how it is (in which some are raised this way), or that they do have that inane level of maturity (like very advanced; wiser than many teenagers and young adults level of social and emotional comprehension) to understand enough and know how to afford acting upon that.

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Non-verbal communication is about “reading” non-verbals and “writing” non-verbals.

There is value in knowing the local language. The local language is NT and not ND in most situations (if you buy into that black and white division of humanity). It is possible to read text in the “first person” (as in “I walk down the street”) without doing what the text says (I don’t have to personally walk down the street every time I read the words “I walk down the street”). Knowing what body language someone might use when that person is feeling a certain way can help to learn the local language. Because the book says “I will feel happy” doesn’t mean that I personally must feel happy while reading it, or even if I am in a similar situation. The point of “social stories” is to help spell out the “unwritten rules” of encoding and decoding other peoples non-verbal communication and how it connects to the average typical person’s feelings. Knowing other people can think differently than me and feel differently than me is called “ToM” or “Theory of the Mind”. It is mostly about “reading” and “writing” non-verbal language and understanding others, and using body language/non-verbal communication to be understood.

It's not just you.

A problem that the article highlights is the 'delivery of the intervention', or, that it can become about the teacher rather than the pupil.

I don't think this is a purely ND problem. Any useful technique can become less than useful when formalised, or either (a) aimed at too large or diverse a group of people, more of whom are less likely to find it useful, or (b) directed by people who are less qualified to make it useful. (As a software geek, may I humbly suggest Agile methodology as an example. Practised by a small, autonomous gang of high-quality engineers, it's a boon; imposed on a large team of mediocre engineers with weak managers, it's a disaster.)

What I'd like to see is autism-oriented content warnings. We already have warnings in the media, not only socially-oriented (strong language, sex scenes) but also disability-oriented (flashing lights, strobe effects). If there were similar warnings - not only in the media, but in advance of events - about e.g. sudden noises, large crowds - it would enable autistic people to prepare for situations and make their own decisions, including whether or not to take part at all. This last is very important. Say to an autistic person 'This technique will help you when you go to parties', and you're actually disempowering the autistic person.

There's an excellent article in the latest NAS 'Your Autism' magazine by an autistic person who attends rock festivals and who gives tips on how to navigate them. Well worth reading.