I am in my late thirties, it was speculated for the longest time that I was autistic and in 1998, I received my diagnosis at the age of thirteen as Asperger’s Syndrome. Back then, little was known about autism and how to help someone of my caliber. While there was similar material in the process of my diagnosis, the term “social stories” was not coined yet, although where I was initially diagnosed made material to prepare me for feeling comfortable in the battery of psychological test that would be conducted over a span of eight weeks. I am proud to say that at the age of thirty-nine, I utilized my first social story, and it was helpful to me.

While there have been many advancements in autism since the late ninety’s I have always felt like I have known many things in navigation as it relates to being an autistic adult living independently. However, last week, I realized that I needed to find a social story on getting a dental filling at the dentist as it has been over a decade since I had a small one and my memory was very vague of the process.

So, I went to Google and within a few seconds I found the social story. After reading it, it was like what my mother had revealed to me. Although I had anxiety, and I worked at relieving it in the interim. Eventually it was time to go to the dentist and the process was like what was told to me. I was at a great sense of ease, and it went way better than I expected. As the process was being undertaken, I felt much better knowing the steps in the process. It also helped that the dental assistant was very friendly and told me the steps and educated me upon completion of the preventative steps that I would need to take for the hours following the procedure.

In short order I have proved to myself that indeed social stories can work for me as an autistic adult in my late thirties closer to forty. Despite having child-like drawings, what matters most of all is the depiction and explanation of the processes that are being sought and from an autistic person who never has to really use a social story to find out how something is completed, I was very amazed how much more at ease I was.

In addition, I had sought dental care earlier this year and that the hardest part of the dental work is now completed. Most of all, it shows and proves that social stories are pivotal in autistic adults in addition to the many autistic children, again reminding us that being autistic does not stop once an autistic child reaches adulthood and that language and content should be inclusive towards both children and adults, when appropriate.

Overall, I was pleased with the use of a social story for the first time knowing that it could help me. I plan to become more versed as needed on social stories in the future.