A New Take on Social Stories 

By: Kathryn Mahoney, OTR/L

Since the beginning of recorded history, the art of storytelling has been used to teach, encourage, and enlighten its listeners. As a pediatric occupational therapist, I have found that one of the most effective and engaging ways to help children meet their goals is a story. Children are drawn to visual stimulation and complex storylines that foster imagination. For many of my patients over the last three years of practice, I have been amazed by the power of a social story.   

Again and again, I discovered that my most impactful sessions were achieved by creating social stories that addressed the specific needs of the child through helpful OT strategies woven with rhyme and rhythm. Together, we would use glitter, glue, and even googly eyes to make a social story that they would take home to practice the strategies demonstrated by the characters and plot within the story. I created social stories focusing on topics that ranged from the importance of personal space, feeding strategies, and even effective sensory calming strategies. And I loved it! 

My Journey with OTstories 

After two years of stories made by broken crayons, I was inspired to create and publish my own social stories. I watched youtube videos, read articles, and listened to podcasts as I tried to identify a path that could make my dream a reality! After extensive research, I decided to utilize Canva and AmazonKDP to create my very own occupational therapy focused social stories.  

My first paperback children’s book, Emma’s Symphony of Silence, was created and published in the fall of 2023. It tells the story of a girl who experiences auditory overstimulation and discovers a secret garden full of occupational therapy tools to help her navigate her noisy world. My writing style and images are designed to be interactive and facilitate a chance for its young reader to engage with the OT strategies found throughout the story. This approach encourages readers to reflect, practice, and eventually adapt their own lives with similar OT strategies to cope with auditory overstimulation. 

At the end of the book, there is an informational segment on occupational therapy techniques and additional helpful OT strategies for families and children to try at home. My books are more than just social stories; they are informative resources for the conditions they cover. By including interactive stories followed by applicable OT strategies, they become valuable resources for families and kids. 

After my first book launched on Amazon in the fall, I was truly amazed by the feedback I received from the medical community as well as the families of patients! The positive response to my work as a writer, and a practitioner who had never written a book before was incredible. I began establishing a social media presence on instagram with my page @kathryn.ot.stories and I created a website: www.otstories.com.  And so my very own company was born: OTstories! 

Creating interactive helpful books with OT strategies  

I have gone on to write four more books since then including:  

• Prince Oliver’s Quest for Focus, addressing ADHD at home and in the classroom. 

•  Bite-sized Bravery: Susie’s Picky Eater Journey, addressing food aversions using SOS feeding strategies and more. 

• Santa’s Workshop: A Tale of Christmas Emotions, addressing emotional regulation. 

• Joey’s Journey: Adventures in Daily Change, addressing the struggle with everyday transitions in routines, between environments, and between tasks. 

Going even further with resources for each reader 

After publishing these books, I believed that there was even more I could offer to practitioners and families. So I created free worksheet packets. The free worksheet packets follow along with each one of my books to help children and families interact with and practice the OT strategies woven through each OTstory!  

My desire to provide helpful resources to families and practitioners continued to grow from there in the form of partnerships! I now have created great connections with companies such as: 

•  TimeTimer: an amazing company that creates user-friendly visual timers. 

•  Learnigo: an online platform that provides interactive tools for OTs, SLPs, and SPED. 

• ezpz: a company created by an SLP that has feeding tools for all developmental ages.     

Each one of these companies provide tools that I use every day as a pediatric OT such as visual timers, online interactive tools for practice, and early feeding tools! I have loved getting to partner with such amazing companies and to be able to point the families I work with to such incredible resources through my website.  

About the Author: 

A certified pediatric occupational therapist and children's author, Kathryn Mahoney is committed to fostering growth and development in young hearts and minds. By combining her expertise in therapy with her gift for storytelling and writing, Kathryn goes above and beyond to support children and their families on their journey of overcoming challenges and embracing their full potential.  She is the author and illustrator of many children's books that focus on sharing OT strategies woven throughout each story including: Joey's Journey: Adventures in Daily Change, Prince Oliver's Quest for Focus, Bite-sized Bravery: Susie's Picky Eater Journey, Santa's Workshop: A Tale of Christmas Emotions, & Emma's Symphony of Silence.  

Read more about Kathryn Mahoney OTR/L here!