Comic strip conversations use stick figures and symbols to represent social interactions and abstract aspects of conversation, and colour to represent the emotional content of a statement or message. The idea is that the child can draw something that has happened or will happen, colours can express different feelings, green = happy. Children can also recognise that, although people say one thing, they may think something quite different another concept foreign to concrete-thinking children.

You can use just paper, pencils, crayons and markers, computer word processing applications, or you could use an app. Present the social story to the person at a time when everyone is feeling calm and relaxed, using a straightforward approach, eg I have written this story for you. If it is for a situation where a particular outcome is not guaranteed, use words like ‘sometimes’ and ‘usually’ in the story.Carol Gray combines stick-figures with conversation symbols to illustrate what people say and think during conversations. Comic strip conversations can be used to increase social understanding in young people and adults on the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum. By providing information about what might happen in a particular situation, and some guidelines for behaviour, you can increase structure in a person's life and thereby reduce anxiety. Comic strip conversations can also offer an insight into how an autistic person perceives a situation. Comic strip conversations, created by Carol Gray, are simple visual representations of conversation.

For complex situations, or for people who have difficulty reporting events in sequence, comic strip boxes may be used, or drawings can be numbered in the sequence in which they occur. They are short descriptions of a particular situation, event or activity, which include specific information about what to expect in that situation and why. Comic strip conversations can help autistic people understand concepts that they find particularly difficult. This worked well, but unfortunately this book does not give anything pre written conversation strategies.

Comic strip conversations provide visual representations of the different levels of communication that take place in a conversation, using symbols, stick figure drawings and colour. Figure 4 (below) shows some 'conversation colours' that could be used to represent a range of feelings and ideas.