George Lucas Educational Foundation

Using Social Stories to Establish New Routines

Orienting very young students to virtual learning can be a challenge—a social story that clearly lays out norms and expectations can help.

October 6, 2020

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The virtual learning social story featured in this video was written by Courtney Daignault and Whitney Listman and published by Transcend Education. Transcend offers a whole collection of downloadable social stories for educators, free of charge.

The concept of social stories was developed by Carol Gray in 1990 for people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD); they have since found broader usage.

Schools That Work

Van Ness Elementary School

Public, Urban

Grades Pre-K–5

Washington, DC

Outperformed all but one other Title I school in Washington, DC, when third graders took the state test for the first time in 2019.
Scored 98% for student satisfaction and95% for parent satisfaction on DC Public Schools’Fall 2020–21 Insight survey.
Developed the Whole Child model of teaching and learning that’s being implemented by schools in 4 states, in collaboration with partner organization Transcend.