The idea
What's a social story?
A social story is a short, literal description of a situation: where it happens, who is there, what usually happens and why. It describes more than it directs, stays positive and patient, and never tells a child off.
Teachers and parents have made them by hand for years: printed, laminated and clipped to a lanyard. Animated Social Stories turns those cards into short cartoons a child can watch, replay and flip through, while keeping the cards too.
Who it's for
Children who benefit from visual, step-by-step guidance on everyday situations, and the parents, carers and teachers who support them.
Stories come in two age bands, 3 to 8 and 9 to 15, with vocabulary and pace to match.
In the app
Stories that act things out
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Cartoon episodes
Stories of 30 to 40 seconds where the characters act things out, walking in, waving, sitting down, with calm narration and captions on by default.
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Flip-card mode
Every story is also a set of swipeable cards for an in-the-moment reminder. Tap a card to hear its line.
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Works offline
The free stories are built into the app. They play without an internet connection and without an account.
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Made for Reduce Motion
With Reduce Motion turned on, each story plays as still pictures with the same narration: the whole story, not a cut-down one.
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A main character like them
Build an avatar with different skin tones, hair, glasses, hearing aids, cochlear implants or a wheelchair. No photos needed, ever.
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Calm by design
No flashing, no autoplay chains, no confetti, points or streaks. Layouts stay put, stories can always be replayed and the pace can be adjusted.
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Your own situation Planned
In a parent area, describe a situation your child finds hard and get a custom story written to the social-story method and checked before it reaches them.
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A grown-up gate
Child profiles, purchases and custom stories sit behind a parent gate, so children can explore the stories safely.
For parents, carers and teachers
A support, not a treatment
Alongside professional advice
Animated Social Stories complements, and never replaces, speech and language therapy and the professional advice your child receives.
Preparation and celebration
Stories work best as calm preparation before a situation, or to celebrate one that went well. A story should never be used as a consequence for behaviour.
Privacy at a glance
Built for children's privacy
The free stories
- No account needed
- No personal data collected to play them
- No adverts, no tracking and no third-party analytics
- No photos of your child, ever
Custom stories Planned
Your child's first name and avatar stay on your device. For custom stories, we store only a parent account, the age band you choose, your credit balance and your stories. No one else ever receives your child's name.
Support
Questions or ideas?
Suggestions for new stories are very welcome. Email paul@canningsdigital.com.