Free tool
Social Story Builder
A new dentist. A first fire drill. A different bus route. This turns one of those into a short illustrated story — written around the specific sensory needs, communication and accommodations that matter for one particular person.
Built on the criteria
Follows Carol Gray's published Social Stories criteria, and shows you the describes-to-directs ratio so you can check it yourself.
Affirming by default
It will not write anything asking someone to stop stimming, sit still, or otherwise appear less autistic.
Nothing is stored
What you type stays in your browser unless you choose to save a shareable copy.
Who is this story for?
A Social Story works because it is written for one person, about one situation. The more specific this is, the more useful the story will be.
Use the name they actually go by. It appears throughout the story.
Age shapes the pictures and how grown-up the story sounds. It is kept separate from reading level on purpose.
Strengths to build onConnecting a new situation to something already managed is one of the most effective moves available, and one of the least used.
What this is, and what it is not
A Social Story shares information someone is entitled to have about a situation. It is not a way to get a child to comply. If they already know what is expected and still find it hard, a story is probably the wrong tool — the more useful question is why it is hard.
This produces a draft, not clinical advice. Read the whole thing before you share it. It was written by AI from what you typed; it does not know your child and it has not visited the place you are describing. An inaccurate story makes a situation harder, not easier — anything the story promises will happen should actually happen.
It is not a substitute for professional support or for supervision. If your child is distressed, unsafe, or struggling in a way that worries you, talk to your paediatrician, a speech and language therapist, an occupational therapist, a psychologist, or your child's school team.
On the evidence. Social Stories are widely used, low cost and low risk. The largest randomised trial to date (Wright and colleagues, 2024, 249 autistic children) found benefits for specific individual goals but no significant improvement in overall social responsiveness, anxiety, depression or parental stress. Reviews describe effects as small to moderate and inconsistent. A story may help. It may not. It is one support among many.
Social Stories were developed by Carol Gray. This tool follows her published criteria and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or certified by Carol Gray or Social Stories™.