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PP Final Social Differences A Neuroaffirmative Approach updated 29.01.26

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Guidelines for writing a social narrative (Middletown Centre for Autism)

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Guidelines for writing a social narrative (Middletown Centre for Autism)

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Going to the supermarket during Covid 19 social story

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Going to the supermarket during Covid 19 social story

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Halloween Social Narrative (Middletown Centre for Autism)

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Halloween Social Narrative (Middletown Centre for Autism)

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Sports Day Social Narrative (Middletown Centre for Autism)

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Sports Day Social Narrative (Middletown Centre for Autism)

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Watch all your favourite TV shows Live or On Demand on your PC, smartphone or tablet for free.

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Murray explores his life as a non-speaking autistic person

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Flo explains the challenges of unmasking for her mum

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Ethan’s Film, Inside Our Autistic Minds - BBC Two

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The short film made by Ethan in Episode 2 of Inside Our Autistic Minds.

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Inside Our Autistic Minds

The short film made by Anton in Episode 2 of Inside Our Autistic Minds.

Inside Our Autistic Minds

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Facebook pages that are allowed to edit FB preview titles and descriptions */ ?> Inside Our Autistic Minds The short film made by Anton in Episode 2 of Inside Our Autistic Minds. Inside Our Autistic Minds

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"Autistic people need to be heard in this world" | Inside Our Autistic Minds - BBC

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Dr. Barry Prizant is a speech-language pathologist with more than 50 years experience as a researcher and international consultant for autistic and neurodivergent individuals and their families. He is an Adjunct Professor of Communicative Disorders at the University of Rhode Island and Director, Childhood Communication Services (a private practice). Previously, he served as Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry in the Brown University School of Medicine, and held a tenured professor appointment at Emerson College. Publications include 5 books, most notably Uniquely Human: A Different Way of Seeing Autism (2015; 2022) and The SCERTS Model manuals, an educational approach implemented in more than a dozen countries. He has published 150 scholarly chapters and articles and serves on numerous professional advisory boards for journals and professional organizations. Barry has presented more than 1000 seminars and keynote addresses internationally, including two invited presentations at the United Nations for World Autism Awareness Day. His career contributions have been recognized with honors from Brown and Princeton Universities, the Autism Society of America and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.

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Uniquely Human: The Podcast - Uniquely Human: The Podcast

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Uniquely Human: The Podcast, a show that illuminates and celebrates Autism and Neurodiversity. Hosted by Barry Prizant and Dave Finch.

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Ask an Autistic #25 - What is Executive Functioning?

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Social Stories are a social learning tool that supports the safe and meaningful exchange of information between parents, professionals, and people with autism of all ages. The people who develop Social Stories are referred to as Authors, and they work on behalf of a child, adolescent, or adult with autism, the Audience.

Authors follow a defined process that begins with gathering information, discovering a topic that 'fits' the Audience, and the development of personalized text and illustration. Most frequently associated with short, simple Stories, there are also Social Articles for use with older or more advanced individuals. The Social Story Definition and ten defining characteristics (The Social Story Criteria) guide the development of every Story and result a patient, respectful, and unassuming quality that is the hallmark of the approach. It is that quality that distinguishes genuine Social Stories from social scripts, skill checklists, or 'social stories' that do not meet the current the definition.

What is a Social Story? presentation

There is only one definition for the term 'Social Story':

A Social Story accurately describes a context, skill, achievement, or concept according to 10 defining criteria. These criteria guide Story research, development, and implementation to ensure an overall patient and supportive quality, and a format, "voice", content, and learning experience that is descriptive, meaningful, and physically, socially, and emotionally safe for the child, adolescent, or adult with autism.
Additional Social Story Information:
Where did Social Stories come from?
The History of Social Stories

Check your knowledge of Social Stories
The Social Story Quiz and Answers to The Social Story Quiz

Is THIS a Social Story?
It is NOT a Social Story if... An initial screening instrument

How the Social Story Criteria keep pace with experience and research
Social Stories 10.0 - 10.2 Comparison Chart

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What Is A Social Story? - Carol Gray - Social Stories

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Social Stories are a social learning tool that supports the safe and meaningful exchange of information between parents, professionals, and people with autism of all ages. The people who develop Social Stories are referred to as Authors, and they work on behalf of a child, adolescent, or adult with autism, the Audience.

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Learn about CAST’s Universal Design for Learning framework, fostering inclusive educational experiences and improving learning outcomes for all learners.

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Online Talking About Secondary School contains different scenarios. For example

Wearing school uniform for the first time

Forgetting to bring homework to school

What to do in the dinner hall

Packing my bag for school

Each scenario is followed by response pictures which illustrate ways of behaving which will encourage discussion about the 'right' thing to do and prompt students to make their own suggestions.

The user has the ability

Record the students' responses and discussions and play them back. This makes it ideal for role play and 'rehearsal' of social conversations.

Make notes within the digital resource and then email these from within the resource, together with the recordings.

Play optional audio for children or young people who have not learnt to read or who have reading difficulties.

The background of the text can also be changed to yellow, which may help some children read the text.

By purchasing this resource you are able to email a link to 10 parents/carers in any 14-day period.

For more information about the online Talking About Series watch the video.
Technical stuff:
Black Sheep Press digital web resources were built and designed for use on PCs and laptops. If you wish to use this resource on a mobile device please see our apps.
This is an online resource so when using it you will need to be connected to the internet.

Talking About Secondary School is also available as a download in printable format.

There are no reviews yet.

Only logged in customers who have purchased this product may leave a review.

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Talking About Secondary School online resource (School) - Black Sheep Press

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"Talking About Secondary School" is an online resource intended to assist children aged 7+ years and older to help them manage their emotional responses.

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Dr Patsy Daly Small Changes Can Make Big Differences

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Listen to this episode from The Middletown Centre for Autism Podcast on Spotify. Dr Patsy Daly discusses strategies in her book Small Changes Can Make Big Differences

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An empowering lived-experience guide to celebrating and supporting neurodivergence from 24-year-old actor, social media star and disability advocate Chloé Hayden

'Fierce, unapologetic and joyous . . . This book is a marvel.'
-Jordon Steele-John, Disability Rights Advocate and Australian Senator

Growing up, Chloé Hayden felt like she'd crash-landed on an alien planet where nothing made sense. Eye contact? Small talk? And why are you people so touch-oriented? She moved between 10 schools in 8 years, struggling to become a person she believed society would accept, and was eventually diagnosed with autism and ADHD. When a life-changing group of allies showed her that different did not mean less, she learned to celebrate her true voice and find her happily ever after. ...

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An empowering lived-experience guide to celebrating and supporting neurodivergence from 24-year-old actor, social media star and disability advocate Chloé Hayden 'Fierce, unapologetic and joyous . . . This book is a marvel.' -Jordon Steele-John, Disability Rights Advocate and Australian Senator

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These valuable, printable resources have been developed over my many years of interoceptive work and research. I offer these as a free resource exclusively…

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The picture shows 12 spoons.

Christine Miserandino was the first person to write about 'Spoon Theory', in 2003. Her original article can be found at:

https://butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/

Since then, a large number of people from the disability and neurodiversity groups have used this as a basis for explaining our own situations.

I am sometimes asked about how 'spoon theory' relates to autism and shutdowns. I shall explain it from my own perspective, in this blog.

Firstly, a reminder of the principles of 'spoon theory'. Let us say that an average person wakes up in the morning with (say) 12 units of energy to 'spend' on the daily activities. Once all that energy is used up, they can do no more and must rest.

Christine illustrated it by imagining the units of energy as something physical - and the first thing she found was 12 spoons in a cutlery drawer. So those became the example.

Each spoon represented a 'unit' of energy for that person. She then explained how much energy each daily task, each social event, took to complete for her, as someone with a long-term health condition. Each missing unit of energy meant that she had one fewer 'spoon' for the day. If she had overspent the amount of energy, maybe she could borrow a 'spoon' of energy from tomorrow....but then, tomorrow, she would have fewer units of energy to complete that day. It is a helpful example of how much of a challenge life can be, for people placed in situations which require huge energy to complete. Autism is not a health condition, but if we are put into inappropriate social and sensory situations, we can run out of ability to keep our brain operating. When that happens, we go into meltdown or shutdown.

What is it like for me? I'll take tomorrow as an example.

Let us say that I wake up with those 12 units of energy, represented by 12 'spoons'.
I can do at most 12 things, before they're gone.
Some of the things need more than one unit of energy to complete.

Examples: Showering, including drying and any lotions or deodorants etc. - 2 'spoons'. A day at work - 5 spoons. Visiting a shop to buy ingredients for dinner. 2 spoons if it's a small shop, maybe 3 or 4 if it is a sensory nightmare.

Cleaning teeth - 1 spoon.
Washing and drying hair - 2 spoons.
Getting dressed - 1 spoon.
Preparing dinner for the family and sorting out evening tasks for the house, family and animals. 2 spoons.
Meeting a friend in the evening. Maybe 1 spoons, maybe 4 spoons. Depends if they are autistic or not. If not, I have to work extra hard to communicate. I want to. I love being with people, but I can't do it for long without running out of 'spoons'.
Getting ready for bed 1 spoon.

Total possible 'spoons' of energy? Not enough . I have 12. 12 and then I'm out of energy and unable to do more. The sensory and social load would be too much.

So, each day, I have to plan how to use that energy.

That's how I have to plan my life, as an autistic person asked to live in a world that is not designed for me. Too bright, too loud, too many social demands from people who expect social skills that match theirs...until they learn to 'speak autistic' and take the pressure off me.

If something unexpected happens, I may need to expend even more energy.
Angry person - for me, 5 spoons gone at once.
Unexpected change of venue from a doable one to one that is a sensory nightmare - 3 spoons gone, maybe more.

Then, I'm in trouble.
If I can't rest for long enough, to recover, after that kind of emergency 'spoon drop', I'm in shutdown. Many autistic people report that they experience shutdown sometimes or always, not the lively 'meltdowns' in common literature. Here was one online poll. Whilst informal, it matches with professional experience.
Dealing with the morning tasks for the house, family and animals. 1 spoon.
Driving a long distance. 2 spoons. .

I cannot speak, or move much. Overwhelming, pain, exhaustion. And every 'spoon' I have is then gone, probably for tomorrow too.

This, my friends, is why autistic people plan so carefully, and are so concerned about knowing what is ahead.

Important to know about 'spoon theory'. Important to realise that small changes for you may be huge changes for your autistic friends and colleagues. Important to realise that if we ask for information, we need it to be around those social and sensory energy-loss-points. Help us know whether we can do the thing. It makes such a difference.

So many autistic people have to live lives just about making it through each day.
So many are pushed into negative energy every day, for no good reason.

We want to be a full part of society, and - if we are allowed to communicate, socialise and contribute in doable ways, we can do just that. As friends, colleagues, specialists, carers and so many other things. Work with us to achieve that, and all of society can benefit.

Thank you for listening.

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The picture shows 12 spoons. Christine Miserandino was the first person to write about 'Spoon Theory', in 2003. Her original articl...

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An introduction to the double empathy problem

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NCSE Physical Classroom Environment Booklet

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NCSE Physical Classroom Environment Booklet

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NCSE Visual Supports in an Inclusive Environment 

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NCSE Visual Supports in an Inclusive Environment 

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NCSE Visual Support in an Inclusive Learning Environment

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Indicators of Eﬀective Practice for Post Primary Schools