Death Social Story

A fill-in-the-blank social story walks a child through the death of a loved one, with photo placeholders and sentence blanks so an adult can personalize the narrative to the child's own family and loss.

Year groups: Not Year Specific
File type: PDF
Preparation: Print ready

Updated Sep 23, 2021

Subject: Special Education Needs (SEN), Social Skills, Social Emotional Learning (SEL), Special Resources
Topic: Social Story, Difficult Discussions
Preparation: Print ready

From the author

About this resource

A personalizable social story guides a child through understanding that a family member or pet has died, using first-person sentences with blanks for the child's name, age, and the deceased person's name, alongside placeholders for family photos. The narrative moves in sequence: introducing the child's family, explaining that the person had been ill and went to hospital, stating plainly that they did not get better and have died, and then reassuring the child that sadness is a normal response. Later pages shift toward coping, prompting the child to remember happy shared memories as a way to feel better over time. The blank fields mean a parent, counsellor, or teacher fills in the specific names and inserts real photos before reading it with the child. Teachers building out related support materials can pair this with the things I can't control worksheet, which names death among the life circumstances students sort as outside their control.

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

Use the included learning resource.

Teaching tips

Personalize every blank (child's name, age, deceased person's name) and insert real family photos before using the story with a specific child.
Read the story one-on-one or in a small group setting with an adult who can pause for the child's questions.
Revisit the memory-focused closing pages separately from the initial explanation pages if the child needs the difficult news given first, then processed later.

Skills covered

Grief processing support — an adult uses the templated narrative to explain a death and normalize sadness for the child.
Personalized bibliotherapy — the teacher or caregiver customizes names, ages, and photos so the story matches the child's real situation.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

How is this social story meant to be personalized before use with a child?

The blanks for the child's name, age, and the name of the person who died must be filled in, and real family photos inserted in place of the photo placeholders, before reading it with that specific child.