Social Stories use clear, supportive language to help a child explore a situation, routine, expectation, or new experience. Personalization can make the people, places, and examples feel more familiar.
Why personalize a social story?
Prepare for something new: explore a first day, appointment, trip, transition, or unfamiliar routine.
Make expectations concrete: show what may happen and what the child can do next.
Use familiar context: include trusted adults, places, interests, or comforting details.
Create a shared conversation: read together, pause for questions, and practice parts of the experience in real life.
A Nookly social story can support preparation and practice, but it is not therapy, a diagnostic tool, or a replacement for individualized educational or clinical guidance.
Before you begin
You can start creating without logging in. Nookly will ask you to log in or provide an email when it is time to save, purchase, or continue beyond the guest flow.
Step 1: Open Social Stories
Open Create and choose Make one thing.
Select Explore all, then choose I want to explore an existing tool.
Select Social Stories.
Describe the situation, skill, routine, or new experience in everyday language.
Use a suggested idea or Surprise me if helpful, then select Start creating.
Useful prompts describe the context without labeling or judging the child. For example: “Maya feels nervous about her first day at a new school. Help her understand what will happen and who can help.”
Step 2: Choose the story’s hero
Select Start with a photo or Describe their look. Review the generated character and adjust only the details needed for this story.
Step 3: Personalize the context
On the content-details page you can:
Confirm or change the language.
Add familiar people or a pet who should appear.
Add interests that may make the story feel relevant.
Use the optional context field for specific places, routines, phrases, supports, or details the child should recognize.
Select Let’s write [child’s name]’s story when the setup is complete.
Step 4: Review the draft before illustration
Open Review and edit captions, then read every numbered page. Check that the story:
Uses respectful, concrete, age-appropriate language.
Does not promise exactly how another person or event will behave.
Explains possibilities and supportive next steps without frightening or shaming the child.
Includes only private details you are comfortable using.
Use Edit to change page text, reorder or delete pages, add a page, and save changes. Use Write a fresh version for a broader revision or a completely new draft.
Step 5: Continue to checkout [if not subscribed]
Select Continue after approving the draft. Follow the live account, email, credit, subscription, or purchase steps shown. Review current terms on the live page before proceeding.
Step 6: Adjust your supporting cast
Select Continue after approving the draft. Follow the live account, email, credit, subscription, or purchase steps shown. Review current terms on the live page before proceeding.
Step 7: Review and Edit your images
After finalizing your cast, you'll be redirected to review your draft and edit text and images.
You can click on the text and edit its content, font size, font-weight and underline. You can also change its position on the screen by clicking on the grid icon.
For images, you can describe your edit, replace the background with a white fill or upload a reference photo to influence the change applied.
Use the story with the child
Read it together before the real-life moment.
Pause for questions and let the child notice what feels familiar.
Pair the story with real practice, a visual reminder, conversation, or role play when appropriate.
Adjust the story if circumstances change.