Hands-Off Hygiene – Social Story for Kids

About this resource

What's inside this resource

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.

This social story is for children who are playing with and touching their own faeces and even smearing it on the walls or floor.

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.

Clipart images courtesy of Kari Bolt, Hidesy’s Clipart and Jay’s Sketchbook.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

State that bowel movements belong only in the toilet.
Identify hand-washing as the required response if contact with stool occurs.
Name play dough as an acceptable substitute activity for the soft, squishy sensory interest the story addresses.

Teaching tips

Read the story repeatedly and in the same order each time, since social stories are designed for consistent, repeated use rather than a single reading.
Have play dough on hand right after reading, since the story itself names it as the substitute activity for the sensory interest it addresses.
Walk through the story's own sequence — contact, germs, wash hands — as the response routine whenever the situation actually occurs.

Skills covered

Toileting-boundary recognition — the child hears, through first-person statements, that bowel movements are directed only to the toilet.
Hygiene response sequencing — the story walks through washing hands immediately if accidental contact with stool occurs.
Sensory substitution — the story offers play dough as an alternative object that meets the same soft/squishy sensory interest without the hygiene risk.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What alternative activity does the story suggest for a child who wants to handle something soft and squishy?

Play dough. The story frames it as the acceptable substitute for that specific sensory interest.

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Resource details

Concepts & topics

Core concepts

Social story
Toileting behavior support
Hygiene routine
Sensory substitution

Topics

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