Social Stories Speak to Toddlers {Visuals for Learning}

Around the time we welcomed a baby brother into our family, my 2.5 year old son was starting a new preschool. When we were called in to discuss some “concerns” with the teachers, I just thought “oh, here we go again.”

To say my older son is “all boy” is a complete understatement. Especially when he was in his terrible twos. He had a winning combination of speech delay, no attention span, over the top curiosity, innate ability to tune out adult voices and inability to sit still.

At our meeting with his teachers, we learned he was not sitting in circle, not participating in activities and getting frequent timeouts. The only upside is that he was at the prime age where he could be bribed. Bribery was his love language. So, we teamed up with the teachers and told them what he could potentially lose when he came home if he didn’t behave at school. This helped, but I took it one step further.

My very good friend is an early childhood educator and told me about social stories. So, I grabbed some blank paper, markers and a pen and started writing. The story was called “Leo’s Good Day” and I drew a picture of him wearing his favorite outfit in his favorite color. The story and accompanying illustrations were all about what we expected of him during his time in his classroom, and what he absolutely cannot do (biting, hitting, etc.).

The added layer was emotions. If he didn’t listen to his teachers, mommy would be mad. If he hurt someone, mommy would be very disappointed. If he threw a toy, it would make mommy very sad.

In addition to those emotions, he would also lose privileges at home–like special toys, movies, etc. I laid out all the expectations in the story, as well as the consequences.

However, if he was a good friend, sat in circle, and played nicely, he would reap many benefits–not only making mommy and daddy happy and proud, but he would also be able to go for special sleepovers at his cousins’ house.

This spoke to my little guy, so much. He loved seeing my drawings of himself, his teachers, his friends at school and of mommy and daddy. And it changed everything at school. We read the book every day for a while. I even drew up a second volume when a potty training regression hit. My nephew got his own social story when he started Montessori school and had anxiety about mommy leaving him.