Stool Withholding Autism
- File type
- Preparation
- Print ready
- Subject
- Life Skills, Special Resources
- Topic
- Social Story, Autism
- Preparation
- Print ready
From the author
About this resource
This 21-page first-person social story addresses fear around bowel movements. It models naming a feeling, breathing, positive self-talk and thinking about happy things.
Read with a familiar adult and follow the child’s existing support plan. The source includes absolute frequency and comfort claims that need qualification; the story does not provide an individualised constipation treatment.
Clipart images courtesy of Kari Bolt.
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In the classroom
Teaching tips & learning objectives
Teaching tips
Read the story repeatedly and build it into the child's routine rather than reading it once — like other social stories, its short repeated messages are meant to normalise the topic gradually.
Pair the story with the two concrete comfort steps it names (soft-stool foods, more water) if those fit the child's situation, since the story presents them as things that make going to the toilet easier.
Use the three coping lines (deep breaths, 'I can do this,' thinking of happy things) as a script the child can rehearse and repeat in the moment, not just while reading the story.
Skills covered
Naming and normalising a specific fear — the story explicitly says it is OK to feel scared and that everyone feels scared sometimes.
Self-regulation strategies — the story models deep breathing, positive self-talk, and redirecting attention to happy thoughts as ways to manage the fear in the moment.
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Resource details
Concepts & topics
Core concepts
Core concepts
Social story
Stool withholding
Coping with fear
Topics
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