Scratching Social Story

Name anger and frustration as feelings that are okay to have

Identify scratching as an unacceptable response to anger or frustration and explain why it is harmful

Select and use a calming strategy (asking for help, going somewhere quiet, or taking deep breaths) instead of scratching

Laminate the pages or house them in a display book, since a social story like this is meant to be reread with a child multiple times, not used once

Read one calming strategy at a time and have the child practice it (e.g. taking three deep breaths together) right after reading that page

Pair the story with a real or role-played moment of frustration soon after reading it, so the child can practice choosing a strategy while the story is still fresh

Emotion recognition — the story has the reader identify anger and frustration by name as the feelings that come before scratching.

Behavior-consequence reasoning — three consecutive pages each connect the scratching behavior to a distinct consequence (physical hurt, sadness, lost friendship).

Self-regulation strategy selection — the reader is given three concrete calming alternatives (asking an adult, going somewhere quiet, deep breathing) to use instead of scratching.