I Think! I Can! (2004). By Beth Eck. Thinking Publications. Telephone number for purchase: 1-800-225-4769. Reviewed by Ruth Stoeckel, Rochester, MN.

I Think! I Can! is a workbook that contains social stories intended for use in a preschool program for children with autism.  It includes line-drawn pictures as an option  for customizing each story for specific children or classrooms. Photos or other types of pictures can easily be substituted as well. The social stories follow the guidelines suggested by Carol Gray and are written in very simple language meant to be appropriate for children ages 3 to 5. 

In the book's format, each social story is accompanied by instructions for assembling the story, a cover page with the story title, the story itself represented in 3-5 pages with illustrations, and accompanying sets of related pictures for customizing the story. For example, the "Snack Time" social story includes a page of 20 pictures of snack foods.

I Think I Can! has social stories that are applicable to the routines used in many preschool programs, such as circle time, snack time, and story time. 

This is a useful workbook, although limited to certain of the routines used in preschools.  One criticism is that while it is suggested that the stories be sent home, there is no specific mention how the stories could be used to encourage generalization of the skills outside of the classroom setting. The stories are developmentally appropriate for the stated age range, but might need to be simplified further for children with cognitive impairment. The stories are presented in a way that is flexible and easily modified to suit the needs of a specific child or setting. Teachers using picture schedules or other picture-based systems would be able to easily incorporate these stories into their classroom routines. 

This is a classroom resource rather than a speech-language therapy tool.  It has the potential to be a very useful addition to a classroom teacher's library of materials for incorporating visual supports into presentation of daily routines.