Sunday Night Dread: When the Week Starts on Sunday
3 min read
Social Stories
A Story About Hands to Yourself that explains rather than scolds.
Your child grabs, pushes, or hugs without warning, and every correction they have received has been in the moment, in front of other children, after it already happened.
Free 7-day trial · No email or credit card to start · Built by an autism dad and a licensed SLP
Why it works here
Why a social story helps with a story about hands to yourself
Touch rules are unwritten and vary by person and context, which makes them genuinely difficult to infer. Explaining the rule calmly in advance, including how to ask, gives your child a route to connection that does not rely on getting it wrong first.
You will recognize this if
- Your child touches others without checking.
- Corrections happen in the moment and change nothing.
- The touching is affectionate rather than aggressive.
The setup
How to set it up for a story about hands to yourself
Takes about five minutes. Use it as written, or keep only the steps your family needs. A short setup that gets used beats a complete one that gets abandoned in week two.
- 1 Explain that people have different rules about being touched
- 2 Give your child the actual words to ask before touching
- 3 Name who is usually fine, like close family, and who to check with
- 4 Explain how to notice a no, including body language and stepping back
- 5 Include what to do instead when they want connection
- 6 Practice asking during calm, ordinary moments
The mistake most families make
Framing this purely as a prohibition removes a route to connection and offers nothing in its place, which usually means the behavior continues with added shame.
In the app
Built into the routine, not bolted onto it.
The Social Stories lives inside the same routine your child already follows, so a story about hands to yourself is a step with a visible length rather than a separate tool somebody has to remember to open.
- Attach it to any step in any routine
- Works for pre-readers, gestalt language processors, and AAC users
- Same setup at home, at school, and in therapy
Set this up for your child.
Five minutes to build, and your child sees it every time a story about hands to yourself comes around.
$6.99/month after the free trial · Cancel anytime · Also at app.vizyplan.com
Common questions
About a story about hands to yourself
My child hugs everyone. Is that a problem?
It becomes one as they get older, and it is worth teaching asking early rather than prohibiting affection. The skill is checking, not stopping.
How do I teach reading a no?
Concretely. Stepping back, turning away, and not answering are observable signals, where reading discomfort in a face is much harder.
What if the touching is aggressive?
That is a different problem needing a different approach, usually involving what the behavior achieves. Bring it to your child's clinical team.
VizyPlan supports routines and communication at home and school. It is not a medical device and does not diagnose or treat any condition. Talk to your child's care team about clinical questions.
