Reviewing the Literature on: Social Stories Presented by Ira Rinn

Organization of Presentation Search criteria Articles Overview of Participants Overview of Designs Overview of the IV and DV Overview of Measurements and Results A Closer Look… Q and A

Search Criteria Psyc-INFO searchs: – Social stories = 75 articles (51 peer reviewed) – Social stories AND autism = 63 (51) – Social stories AND teaching AND autism = 15 (10) – 5 more recent than previous lit review

Relevant Articles 22 articles – 16 summarized by Ali and Frederickson “Teaching a Young Child to Appropriately Gain Attention of Peers Using a Social Story Intervention” “Addressing Physical Inactivity Among Developmentally Disabled Students Through Visual Schedules and Social Stories” “Using a Self-as-Model Video Combined with Social Stories to Help a Child With Asperger Syndrome Understand Emotions”

Relevant articles (continued) “Enhancing the Conversation Skills of a Boy with Asperger’s Disorder through Social Stories and Video Modeling” “Social Story Efficacy with a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability” “Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders”

Overview of Participants Ages: (plus two groups of nonspecified ages) Range: 3 – 15 Mean: 7 Median: 7 Mode: 7 Under-researched groups???

Overview of Participants Diagnoses: Autism Spectrum Disorder Asperger’s Syndrome Nonspecific Developmental Disability Hyperplexia

Overview of Dependent Variables Tantrum Behaviors Inappropriate Vocalizations Play Skills Social Behaviors (smiling, greeting, acquiring attention) Relationship Building Tolerating Foods Sleep Behavior Inappropriate Touching Empathy

Overview of Independent Variables Social Stories Social Stories w/ activity schedules Social Stories w/ token economy and prompting Social Stories w/ token economy and extinction Social Stories w/ modeling Social Stories w/ textual cues Social Stories w/ verbal prompts/reminders/feedback

IVs vary… Social stories written outside of Gray’s guidelines Read by teacher/parent/peer Read only to study’s participant/entire class Participant given free access to story Social story is reread when problem behavior occurs

Overview of Experimental Designs ABAB = 6 Multiple-baseline = 6 A (Ratings) = 4 AB = 3 ABA = 1 ACABA = 1 ABCACBC = 1

Additional Measures 6 articles recently published: Generalization = 2 Maintenance = 2 Follow-up = 1 IOA = 3 Social Validity = 1 Treatment/Procedural Integrity = 2

Overview of Results Effective? Statistically or socially significant? Gains maintained? Can the results be trusted when internal validity problems are so extreme? Are some researchers motivated to claim a functional relationship?

A Closer Look… “Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder” by Shannon Crozier and Matt Tincani (2007) 3 participants Ages : 3, 3, 5 (all with ASD)

The Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with ASD Conducted in integrated preschool classrooms First author and teachers select DVs DVs – Sitting appropriately at circle – Talking with peers during snack time – Appropriate play Duration and Event Recording Measures

The Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with ASD Features of Social Stories – One sentence per page – Times New Roman black font – One simple picture per page – In accordance with Gray’s guidelines from 1995 and 2000

The Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with ASD ABAB and ABCACBA Story read before target activity B phase is social script intervention C phase includes verbal prompts during data collection intervals (unclear scoring of responses) During maintenance, stories are read by school staff (but with little follow-through, we’re told) Read story with three comprehension questions (unclear criterion)

Graph for Multi-Component Reversal (Talking) Functional relationship established but data collection is unclear, and scores are not maintained

Graph for ABAB (Play) Moderate improvement following first treatment condition, significant improvement following second… but skills not maintained

Graph for ABAB (Sitting) Results may be due also to an extinction of attention-seeking responses Baseline scores are rather high and increasing

The Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with ASD Average of 3 sessions per week Treatment integrity data collected by first author on herself IOA collected by graduate assistant (27%-34% of sessions)

Social Story™ Efficacy With a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability 8-yr-old with autism ABC design Sessions conducted in two adjoined rooms The DV was tapping on any surface (desk or body) and answering comprehension questions DV targeted during reading lessons Social story developed in accordance with Gray’s guidelines (2000) and evaluated using Gray’s checklist (2003)

Social Story™ Efficacy With a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability All conditions: Story read to participant before reading lesson Condition B: Participant was given free access to the story Condition C: Teacher reviewed the story with the participant at own discretion

Social Story™ Efficacy With a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability Data collected using 10-sec partial interval recording A condition lasts 7 days B condition lasts 5 days C condition implemented due to the ineffectiveness of B Maintenance conducted 1 month after intervention was terminated

Social Story™ Efficacy With a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability Rate of DV decreased slightly, but not systematically Too much variability to claim functional relationship Opinions?

Social Story™ Efficacy With a Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability

Similarities to ABA Teaching interactions Review of performance Rule-governed behavior and Contracts (minus the reinforcement)

Future Research More experimental control IOA, treatment integrity, and social validity measures Identifying descriptive to directive to perspective ratios that work best Comparison to contracts/teaching interactions

Questions and Reactions

References “A Multimedia Social Story Intervention: Teaching Skills to Children with Autism” by Taku Hagiwara and Brenda Smith Myles, published in 1999 in “Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities” “Autism and Asperger Syndrome: Strategies to Promote Prosocial Behaivors” by Carol Greenway, published in 2000 in “Educational Psychology in Practice” “Using Social Stories to Teach Choice and Play Skills to Children with Autism” by Leasha M. Barry and Suzanne B. Burlew, publish in 2004 in “Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities” “Teaching a Young Child to Appropriately Gain Attention of Peers Using a Social Story Intervention” by Delann Soenksen and Sandra Alper, published in 2006 in “Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities” “Addressing Physical Inactivity Among Developmentally Disabled Students Through Visual Schedules and Social Stories” by Merilee Zimbelman et al, published in 2007 in “Research in Developmental Disabilities” “Effects of Social Stories on Prosocial Behavior of Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders” by Shannon Crozier and Matt Tincani, published in 2006 in the “Online Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders” “Enhancing the Conversation Skills of a Boy with Asperger’s Disorder through Social Stories and Video Modeling” by Doroth Scattone, published in 2007 in the “Online Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders” “Investigating the Evidence Base of Social Stories” by Shama Ali and Norah Frederickson, published in 2006 in the “Educational Psychology in Practice” “Social Story Efficacy with a Child with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Moderate Intellectual Disability” by Georgina Reynhout and Mark Carter, published in 2007 in “Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities” “Using a Self-as-Model Video Combined with Social Stories to Help a Child With Asperger Syndrome Understand Emotions” by Susana Bernad-Ripoll, published in 2007 in “Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities”