For neurodivergent students
Social story topics
The moments teachers and therapists write social stories for most, with a sample story on every page. Pick one, add your student's name, and the story is written and illustrated for them in about two minutes.
Write your own topic
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School routines
- Lining upLining up looks simple, but it packs a lot into thirty seconds: a loud bell, a crowd moving at once, bodies close together, and an unwritten rule about where to stand and how long to wait. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the noise and the bumping are the hard part, and the expectation is never actually said out loud.Read and make it
- Arriving at school in the morningThe first ten minutes of school ask a student to do many small things in a fixed order, in a busy room, while saying goodbye to the person who brought them. For autistic and neurodivergent students that goodbye can be the hardest part of the day, and the steps that follow are easy to lose in the noise.Read and make it
- Packing up at the end of the dayThe end of the day arrives fast: a bell, a rush to stop an activity that was going well, a pile of things to find and pack, and a crowd heading for the gate. Stopping on someone else’s signal is hard for many autistic and neurodivergent students, and a missing hat or drink bottle can tip a tired child over.Read and make it
- Sitting on the matMat time asks for a lot at once: sitting close to others, keeping a body still, looking at the teacher, waiting to talk. The floor is hard, the carpet can feel scratchy, and the person next to you might wriggle. For autistic and neurodivergent students the sitting itself can take all the attention there is.Read and make it
- Wearing a hat at schoolA hat presses on the head, rubs the ears, flaps in the wind and gets in the way of seeing. For students who find touch and texture intense, a hat can be a real barrier to playing outside, and the rule about wearing one can turn every lunchtime into an argument.Read and make it
- Asking for help in classAsking for help means noticing you are stuck, finding words for it, getting the teacher’s attention and then waiting. Each of those is a step many autistic and neurodivergent students find hard, and the alternative, sitting quietly with a problem, is easy to miss in a busy room.Read and make it
- Putting up my handPutting up a hand and waiting to be picked is a social rule with a hidden cost: you might not be chosen, and the answer you were holding has to wait. Many autistic and neurodivergent students know the answer and call it out, not from rudeness but because the rule about turns is unwritten and waiting is hard.Read and make it
- Using a quiet voice inside"Use your inside voice" assumes a student can hear how loud they are and knows what quiet means in this room. Many autistic and neurodivergent students cannot easily judge their own volume, especially when excited, and the rule changes from the classroom to the playground without anyone saying so.Read and make it
- Eating lunch at schoolLunch at school is a sensory event: smells from other lunch boxes, noise from a hundred children, packaging that will not open, and a short time to do it all in. For autistic and neurodivergent students the eating itself can be the least of it, and a lunch left uneaten often comes from the room, not the food.Read and make it
- Going to the toilet at schoolSchool toilets are loud, echoey and shared. The hand dryer roars, the door may not lock the way the one at home does, and you have to ask to go in front of everyone. Many autistic and neurodivergent students hold on all day rather than face it, which makes afternoons miserable.Read and make it
Transitions and changes
- A different teacher todayA relief teacher changes the voice, the pace, the small routines and sometimes the rules, all without warning. For autistic and neurodivergent students the usual teacher is the anchor of the day, and a stranger at the front can make even a familiar lesson feel unsafe.Read and make it
- When the timetable changesA wet-weather lunch, a cancelled sport lesson, an assembly that was not on the board: small changes to the day can undo a student who was holding it together by knowing what came next. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the plan is the safety, and a change to the plan feels like a loss.Read and make it
- Moving to a new classroomA new classroom changes everything a student has learnt to rely on: where the bag goes, which chair is theirs, how the teacher gives instructions, where the toilets are. For autistic and neurodivergent students the end of a school year can bring weeks of worry about a room they have not seen yet.Read and make it
- Stopping when the timer endsStopping something you love because a timer said so is one of the hardest asks in a school day. The game or the drawing is not finished, the stop comes from outside, and the next thing may be less fun. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the end of the timer is where the big reactions happen.Read and make it
- Starting at a new schoolA new school means new everything: a gate, a playground, a teacher, a bell that sounds different, toilets in a different place, children who already know each other. For autistic and neurodivergent students there is no familiar anchor, and the unknowns pile up long before the first day.Read and make it
- School assemblyAssembly puts hundreds of children in one hall with a microphone, clapping, singing and a long wait on a hard floor. It is loud, crowded and goes on for longer than most young students can sit. For autistic and neurodivergent students the whole event can be too much, and leaving in the middle feels like failing.Read and make it
- Fire drillA fire alarm is one of the loudest sounds a school makes, and it comes without warning. Everyone moves at once, the normal lesson stops dead, and the adults look serious. For autistic and neurodivergent students a drill can be frightening enough to colour the whole week, even when everyone says it was only practice.Read and make it
- A new baby at homeA new baby changes almost everything at once: the noise, the sleep, who is holding whom, and how much of a parent is free. For many autistic and neurodivergent children the hardest part is not the baby but the unpredictability — crying that starts without warning, routines that bend, and rules that seem to have changed overnight.Read and make it
Community outings
- Going to the dentistThe dentist asks a child to lie back in a strange chair, open their mouth for a stranger, and keep still while something buzzes and a bright light shines in their eyes. The smells are odd and the sounds are sharp. For autistic and neurodivergent students the unknowns stack up before the car has left the driveway.Read and make it
- Getting a haircutA haircut means someone touching your head, cold water from a spray bottle, hair falling on your face and neck, scissors clicking next to your ear and sometimes clippers that buzz against the skin. For a student who finds touch and sound intense, it is one of the hardest outings there is.Read and make it
- Going to the supermarketSupermarkets are bright, echoey and full of things to want. There are beeps at every checkout, music, announcements, cold air in some aisles and crowds in others, and a long wait at the end with sweets at eye level. For autistic and neurodivergent children it is a lot to hold together, and the hard moments are public.Read and make it
- Riding the school busA bus is loud, bumpy and full of older children. You have to know when to get on, where to sit, how to hold on and when to get off, and nobody explains any of it. For autistic and neurodivergent students the ride to school can be the most stressful part of the day before the day has even begun.Read and make it
- Swimming lessonsA pool is a wall of sensation: the echo, the smell of chlorine, cold water on skin, a wet floor, a change room full of other people. Then an adult asks you to put your face in the water. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the lesson is fine; it is everything around the lesson that is hard.Read and make it
- Going on a school excursionAn excursion replaces the whole timetable with a day of unknowns: a bus, a place the student has never been, a different lunch spot, new adults giving instructions, and a long time away from the usual room. For autistic and neurodivergent students the excitement everyone else feels can arrive as dread.Read and make it
- Visiting the libraryLibraries have their own rules, and most of them are unspoken: quiet voices, books that go back where they came from, a card to scan, a date to remember. For autistic and neurodivergent students the quiet can be a relief, but the rules and the choosing can be overwhelming without a plan.Read and make it
Health and medical visits
- Going to the doctorA doctor looks in your ears and mouth, presses on your tummy, puts a cold stethoscope on your chest and asks you to be still while all of it happens. The waiting room is full of strangers and the wait is unpredictable. For autistic and neurodivergent children a routine visit can feel anything but routine.Read and make it
- Having a blood testA blood test asks a child to sit still, let a stranger tie a band tight around their arm, and accept a sharp scratch while looking away. It is quick, but the waiting and the not knowing make it enormous. For autistic and neurodivergent children, honest preparation is the difference between a hard minute and a lost morning.Read and make it
- Getting a needleA needle is quick, but the lead-up is long: the waiting room, the sleeve pushed up, the swab that feels cold, the nurse saying "ready". For autistic and neurodivergent children the dread of the moment is often far worse than the moment, and vague reassurance makes it worse rather than better.Read and make it
- Wearing glassesNew glasses sit on the nose, press behind the ears, change the way the floor looks and get in the way of rubbing your eyes. Other children comment. For a student who finds touch intense, glasses can be unbearable at first, and the pile of broken or lost pairs tells the story.Read and make it
- Taking medicineMedicine has a taste, a texture and a timing, and at school it usually means leaving the class and going to an adult the student may not know well. For autistic and neurodivergent students the taste can be unbearable and the leaving-the-room part can feel like being singled out.Read and make it
- Washing my handsHand washing is a sequence of small steps with a lot of sensation: water that may be too cold or too hot, soap that smells and feels slimy, a tap that splashes and a dryer that roars. For autistic and neurodivergent students the steps blur and the dryer alone can be reason to avoid the sink.Read and make it
Social skills
- Taking turnsTaking turns has rules nobody writes down: how long a turn lasts, who goes next, what to do with your hands while you wait. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the waiting feels endless and the rules feel arbitrary, and the result looks like grabbing or quitting when it is really confusion.Read and make it
- Losing a gameLosing brings a sudden, physical feeling that arrives faster than any thinking. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the rule "it is only a game" does not help in the moment, because the feeling is real and the ending was not the one they were expecting.Read and make it
- Saying hello to someone newSaying hello is a tiny script with a lot of unwritten rules: when to speak, how loud, where to look, how long to stand there, what to do when they answer. For autistic and neurodivergent students the moment can be paralysing, and the silence that results is read by others as unfriendly when it is anything but.Read and make it
- Joining a game at recessJoining a game that has already started is one of the hardest social moves a child makes. You have to read what is happening, find a gap, say the right words and cope with a no. For many autistic and neurodivergent students the playground is where the loneliness happens, not the classroom.Read and make it
- Sharing with friends"Share" can sound like "give it away forever". For many autistic and neurodivergent children the word carries a real fear that the thing will not come back, and the rule is applied unevenly: some things must be shared and some are theirs, and nobody says which.Read and make it
- When a friend says noA friend saying no can land as "they do not like me" rather than "not right now". For autistic and neurodivergent students the no is often taken literally and completely, and the feeling that follows can spill into the rest of the day or into a reaction that costs the friendship.Read and make it
- Personal spacePersonal space is invisible and different for everyone, and nobody explains where the line is. Many autistic and neurodivergent students stand too close, hug without asking or, just as often, cannot bear anyone near them, and both get read as rude when the rule was never taught.Read and make it
Sensory and self-regulation
- Loud noises at schoolSchool is loud in ways adults stop noticing: the bell, the hand dryer, chairs scraping, a whole class talking at once, the hall echoing. For many autistic and neurodivergent students these sounds are not background; they are painful, and a day spent bracing for them leaves nothing for learning.Read and make it
- Feeling angry or frustratedAnger arrives in the body before it arrives in words: hot face, tight hands, a feeling of needing to move. Many autistic and neurodivergent students do not get a warning and do not have the words, so the first anyone knows is the reaction. Being told to calm down at that point rarely helps.Read and make it
- Taking a break in the calm cornerA calm corner only works if the student knows when to use it, how to get there without a fuss, what to do once there and how to come back. Without that, it becomes either a punishment or a place to hide for the whole lesson. For autistic and neurodivergent students the return is often the hardest part.Read and make it
- Trying new foodsA new food is a new texture, smell, colour and temperature all at once, and for many autistic and neurodivergent children the familiar foods are familiar for good reason. Pressure at the table makes the next new food harder, and a cooking lesson or a class party can become a thing to dread.Read and make it
- When my uniform feels scratchyLabels, seams, waistbands, stiff collars and the particular scratch of a new jumper can be unbearable for a student who feels texture intensely. A morning battle over clothes is often not about the clothes at all; it is about a body that cannot tune the feeling out.Read and make it
- Waiting my turnWaiting is empty time with no end in sight, and for many autistic and neurodivergent students empty time is the hardest kind. The canteen line, the turn on the computer, the teacher helping someone else: each one is a stretch of not knowing how long, with nothing to do but feel it.Read and make it