Library · When a Friend Gets Too Close
and what hands can do instead.
A friend reaches across the tower, the hands tense, and the push comes before the words. Vivi turns that moment into a narrated, animated story your child stars in, with a stop, a step back and a teacher to call.
Who it helps
For children who push or hit when play gets crowded, and for children who feel a hand on their block before they can say "stop". Parents of autistic children, and of children still finding words for big feelings, use a social story like this alongside what the teacher is already doing at school.
It is not about being bad. It shows the feeling, and then what hands can do instead.
Someone gets too close
A shared building game, and a friend reaches across the tower.
Hands get tight
The feeling is real and it is allowed. The push is the part to stop.
Hands on my own body
Hands go to their own lap or sides, a short "stop" or "move back, please", and the teacher is there to help.
Checking on the friend
Is the friend okay? A small repair, in their own way, and the game goes on.
Yours, not ours. These are the moments a story like this usually walks through. You choose what goes into your child's, and read every page before it is animated.
Questions parents ask
At calm times, not right after a push: after dinner, before school, whenever your child likes a story. The sequence sinks in through repetition, and "stop" and "move back" come easier when they have heard them many times.
Yes. The game, the friend's name, the words your child uses or signs, and the teacher's name. You read every page before it is animated and ask for changes in plain words.
Name the feeling, stop the hand calmly, and give them one thing to do instead, the same thing every time. A social story where your child is the main character shows exactly that sequence, so it is something they have rehearsed, not only something they were told.
Your first story is free in your first 30 days. After that you buy credits: 3 for $9, 10 for $26 or 30 for $66. A story is 1 credit, and a Fully Animated story is 10 more. Your first routine, Choose-Along and plan are free, then 1 credit each. Bought credits never expire.
Your first story is free. Set up your child, start from When a Friend Gets Too Close, and watch it together before bed.
Vivi Kids is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Carol Gray or Team Social Stories.
Make it about your child
