Both are social narratives, but they do different jobs. A social story explains a situation in the student's own voice. A Power Card borrows a character the student already loves and has that hero model the steps. Pick the story when the student is confused about what happens. Pick the card when the student understands the routine but needs motivation to do it.
What is the actual difference between them?
The difference is whose voice carries the message. A social story is written from the student's perspective and describes the situation, what others may be thinking, and at most one thing the student can try. Carol Gray methodology is explicit that the goal is shared understanding, not compliance. A Power Card, developed by Elisa Gagnon and described in her 2001 book on the strategy, flips the voice. A hero from the student's special interest hits the same problem, solves it in three to five steps, and then hands those steps to the student on a small portable card.
| Social story | Power Card | |
|---|---|---|
| Voice | The student, first person | The hero from a special interest |
| Main job | Explain what happens and why | Motivate a known but unused step |
| Structure | Mostly descriptive and perspective sentences, at most one directive | Short scenario plus a 3 to 5 step card |
| Length | 4 to 8 pages for K-5 | One paragraph plus a pocket card |
| Where it lives | Read before the situation | Carried into the situation |
| Requires | Accurate information about the routine | A genuine, strong special interest |
When does a Power Card beat a social story?
When the gap is motivation, not information. If a second grader can recite exactly what to do at hand-washing time and still will not do it, another descriptive story adds nothing. That student already has the information. What a Power Card adds is a reason: the hero does it, the hero says it works, and the card in their pocket says so in the hero's words. The same logic applies to a step the student finds boring rather than confusing, like lining up or putting a folder away.
When does a social story beat a Power Card?
When the student is missing facts, not motivation. A first-time fire drill, a new bus route, a substitute teacher, a hospital visit. In those cases the student needs to know what will happen, in what order, and when it ends. A hero cannot supply that. Social stories are also the safer default for anything emotionally loaded, like a death in the family or a medical procedure, because the descriptive-heavy format lets you deliver hard information calmly without a character putting a cheerful spin on it.
From a 2024 community survey of 16 parents, school SLPs, OTs, and special educators: 94% spend 30 or more minutes making a single social story, and 25% spend one to two hours. The money quote was "I wish I had a template I could easily customize to change the pictures of the child or parents quickly but keep the same story." Power Cards are the cheaper half of this pair. The scenario is one paragraph, and the card is five lines, so you can produce one in the last ten minutes of a session.
Can you use both at once?
Yes, and it is often the strongest option. Teach with the story, prompt with the card. Read the social story two or three times during a calm session so the student learns the routine. Then send them into the hallway, the cafeteria, or the gym with a Power Card that repeats three steps from the story in the hero's voice. Keep the wording aligned. If the story says "I can take three slow breaths," the card should say three slow breaths too, not four. Contradictory instructions across two supports tend to cancel each other out.
Are Power Cards evidence-based?
Both strategies sit inside the same category. AFIRM and the National Clearinghouse on Autism Evidence and Practice recognize social narratives as an evidence-based practice, and the AFIRM evidence brief packet counts Power Cards among the narrative types under that umbrella, with an evidence base drawn from single-case design studies covering ages 3 through 22. That said, the study count behind Power Cards specifically is smaller than the count behind social stories. A 2026 Frontiers in Psychology meta-analysis of 21 single-case social story studies reported a moderate effect (Tau-U = 0.743). No comparable synthesis exists for Power Cards. Treat card effects as promising, not settled, and collect your own data either way.
What should you write in your IEP notes?
Use the precise term. If you wrote in the student's voice with a descriptive-heavy ratio, write "social narrative" or "social story" and note the methodology you followed. If a hero from a special interest is giving the steps, call it a Power Card. Naming the strategy accurately matters more than it sounds, because the next SLP or OT reading the file needs to know whether to reuse the format or rewrite it. It also keeps your documentation honest about which evidence base you are leaning on.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is a Power Card a type of social story?
No. Both sit under the social narratives umbrella that AFIRM and NCAEP recognize as an evidence-based practice, but they are separate strategies. A social story follows Carol Gray's criteria and is written in the student's voice. A Power Card was developed by Elisa Gagnon and is written around a hero from the student's special interest.
Can you use both for the same student?
Yes, and pairing them is common. Use the social story to teach the routine during a calm moment, then give the Power Card as the portable reminder the student carries into the situation. The card should repeat language already used in the story so the two do not contradict each other.
How long is a Power Card?
Two parts. A short scenario, often one paragraph to a page, in which the hero faces the same problem, plus a business-card-sized card listing three to five steps in the hero's words. The card is meant to fit in a pocket, a desk, or a communication binder.
What if the student does not have a strong special interest?
Then a Power Card is the wrong tool. The strategy depends on the motivating pull of the hero. Without a genuine interest, the card is just a rule list with a cartoon on it. Write a social story instead.
Are Power Cards evidence-based?
Power Cards are listed by AFIRM as one type of social narrative, and social narratives as a category meet evidence-based practice criteria based on single-case design studies. The evidence base for Power Cards specifically is smaller than for social stories, so treat effects as promising rather than established.
Does using a character mean the story is not Carol Gray compliant?
Correct, if the character is the one giving directions. A social story written to Carol Gray methodology stays in the student's perspective and describes rather than instructs. Once a hero starts telling the student what to do, you have written a Power Card. Call it that, which is more accurate for your IEP paperwork anyway.
One approach for school SLPs short on time is to keep a 5-tool stack: a methodology checklist that tells you which narrative type fits the problem, a slide template you reuse for stories, a card template you reuse for Power Cards, an AI text drafter (ChatGPT, Claude, MagicSchool, or Emoquest for one-sentence-in story output), and a delivery format your district already uses. Sorting the problem into information versus motivation first saves you from writing the wrong support twice.