Going to Church Social Story by Teach Simple

About this resource

What's inside this resource

A first-person social story walks a student through what to expect at a Christian church service, from sitting on a pew and staying quiet through singing, prayer, and a Bible reading. Five nearly identical pages offer alternate wording for the person who speaks at the front, minister, vicar, priest, pastor, or preacher, so a family or teacher can choose the single page matching their own congregation's term. Later pages describe an optional trip to Sunday school with other children, socializing with family and friends after the service, and a closing page affirming that good, quiet behavior will make people proud. The simple, present-tense, one-idea-per-page sentences are typical of the social-story format used to prepare autistic and other SEN students for an unfamiliar situation.

Product description

From the author

Social stories use a patient and reassuring tone to teach children about social situations in a way that can be easily understood. Social stories are particularly useful for children on the autistic spectrum for whom social cues can be challenging and who often suffer anxiety if they do not know what to expect from a situation however social stories can also be useful for any child who is struggling to understand a situation or concept or needs help to understand a social skill or social cue, expectations, perspectives, common responses or is troubled about an upcoming event.

A social story about what you might expect when you go to a Christian church on Sunday. It covers sitting in pews, listening, singing songs and going to Sunday school.. This is designed to ease some anxiety before going out to church to help the child know what they should expect and how they should try to behave while they are there.

These books should be used over and over to reinforce the point so I would suggest either putting the pages into a display book or laminating and binding them.

Included is a 19 page PDF printable social story.

Clipart images courtesy of Kari Bolt.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Anticipate the sequence of events in a typical church service, from arrival through Sunday school and departure.
Identify expected behaviors during specific parts of the service, such as sitting quietly, listening, and singing along.
Recognize that positive, quiet behavior at church leads to positive feedback from familiar adults.

Teaching tips

Choose and print just one of the five 'who speaks at the front' pages (minister, vicar, priest, pastor, or preacher) to match the student's own congregation, rather than the whole set.
Read through the story with the student before an actual church visit so each step is familiar in advance.
Use the final two pages, praise for good behavior and liking church, as a positive close-out discussion after an actual visit.

Skills covered

Sequential event anticipation — students preview the order of a church service from arrival to departure.
Social-behavior expectation setting — students learn specific expected behaviors, such as sitting quietly, listening and singing along, for each part of the service.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

Why does the story repeat the same page five times with a different title?

Each of the five nearly identical pages swaps in a different term for the person who speaks at the front, minister, vicar, priest, pastor, or preacher, so you can select and print just the one matching your own church's terminology.