Social stories

Social stories (often capitalized as Social Stories) interventions attempt to improve the social skills of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by using individualized short stories to help them interpret challenging or confusing social situations.cite journal |author= Sansosti FJ, Powell-Smith KA, Kincaid D |date= Winter 2004 |title= A research synthesis of Social Story intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder |journal= Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities |volume=19 |issue=4 |pages = pp. 194–204 |url=http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/proedcw/focus/2004/00000019/00000004/art00001] The stories have a specifically defined style and format.cite journal |author= Gray CA, Garand JD |date=1993 |title= Social Stories: improving responses of students with autism with accurate social information |journal= Focus on Autistic Behavior |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages= pp. 1–10] They describe a situation in terms of relevant social cues, the perspective of others, and often suggest an appropriate response. [cite web |author= Goldberg Edelson M |title= Social Stories |publisher= Autism Collaboration |url=http://autism.org/stories.html |date=1995 |accessdate=2008-02-26] They may also be used to applaud accomplishments; roughly 50% of all social stories are targeted to be used for this reason. [cite book |author= Gray C |date=2003 |title= Social Stories 10.0 |location= Arlington, TX |publisher= Future Horizons]

Social stories are a relatively straightforward intervention. However, there is substantial variation in their use, and research into their effectiveness has been limited. It is not known whether they are effective.

Definition

Social stories were introduced in 1993 as a method to help teach social skills to individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).cite journal |author= Rust J, Smith A |date= March 2006 |title= How should the effectiveness of Social Stories to modify the behaviour of children on the autistic spectrum be tested? Lessons from the literature |journal=Autism |volume=10 |issue=2 |pages = pp. 125–38 |pmid=16613863 |doi= 10.1177/1362361306062019] Individuals with an ASD have significant impairments in the social domain as defined by the nature of the diagnosis as cited in the DSM-IV. The social impairment may include, but not limited to, the use of body language, play skills, understanding emotions, and social communication ability. There is a great emphasis placed on the importance of teaching social skills to individuals with an ASD as it has been identified as one of the best indicators of positive long-term outcomes. [cite journal |author= Strain PS | date= November 2001 |title= Empirically based social skill intervention: a case for quality-of-life improvement |journal = Behavioral Disorders |volume=27 |issue=1 | pages= pp. 30–36 |url=http://ccbd.net/documents/bd/Vol27Issue1.zip |format=ZIP |accessdate=2008-02-26]

A social story is an individualized short story that describes social relevant cues in any given situation. It breaks down a challenging social situation into understandable steps by omitting irrelevant information and by being highly descriptive to help an individual with an ASD understand the entirety of a situation. It includes answers to questions such as who, what, when, where, and why in social situations through the use of visuals and written text.cite journal |author= Scattone D, Wilczynski SM, Edwards RP, Rabian B |date= December 2002 |title= Decreasing disruptive behaviors of children with autism using social stories |journal= Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders |volume=32 |issue=6 |pages= pp. 535–43 |pmid=12553590 |doi= 10.1023/A:1021250813367] Social stories are used to teach particular social skills,cite journal |author= Ali S, Frederickson N |date= December 2006 |title= Investigating the evidence base of social stories |journal= Educational Psychology in Practice |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages= pp. 355–77 |doi=10.1080/02667360600999500] such as identifying important cues in a given situation; taking another’s point of view; understanding rules, routines, situations, upcoming events or abstract concepts; and understanding expectations. [cite book| author = Chatwin, I. | date = 2007 | title = 'Why do you do that?Stories to support social understanding for people with ASD' in B. Carpenter & J. Egerton (eds) New Horizons in Special Education| publisher = Stourbridge: Sunfield ISBN 0-9550568-2-9]

The goal of a social story is to reveal accurate social information in a clear and reassuring manner that is easily understood by the individual with an ASD. The improved understanding of the events and expectations may lead to a change in behavior, although it is suggested that the goal of a social story should not be to change individual behavior.

Social stories use a specifically defined style and format. In the initial version, four types of sentences were used (descriptive, perspective, directive, affirmative), along with a basic sentence type ratio. Control, co-operative and partial sentences types have been added to the model.cite journal |author= Crozier S, Tincani M |date=2007 |title= Effects of social stories on prosocial behavior of preschool children with autism spectrum disorders |journal = J Autism Dev Disord |volume=37 |issue=9 |pages=1803–14 |pmid=17165149 |doi=10.1007/s10803-006-0315-7]

While the primary mode of presentation of social stories remains written text, other formats have been trialled with younger children and people with intellectual disabilities. Such formats have included singing,cite journal |author= Brownell M |date= 2002 |title= Musically adapted social stories to modify behaviors in students with autism: four case studies|journal= Journal of Music Therapy |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages= pp. 117–144] apron story-telling,cite journal |author= Haggerty, N., Black, R. & Smith, G.|date= 2005|title= Increasing self-managed coping skills through social stories and apron storytelling |journal= Teaching Exceptional Children|volume=37 |issue=4 |pages= pp. 40–47 ] and computer-based presentations.cite journal |author= Hagiwara T & Myles B |date= 1999|title= A multimedia social story intervention: teaching skills to children with autism |journal= Focus on Autism and other Developmental Disabilities|volume=14 |issue=1 |pages= pp. 82–95] [cite book| author = Chatwin, I. | date = 2007 | title = 'Why do you do that?Stories to support social understanding for people with ASD' in B. Carpenter & J. Egerton (eds) New Horizons in Special Education| publisher = Stourbridge: Sunfield ISBN 0-9550568-2-9]

Types of sentences

There are seven sentence types that may be used in a social story.cite book |author = Gray C |date=2000 |title= The New Social Story Book |location= Arlington, TX |publisher= Future Horizons |isbn=1-885477-66-X]
*Descriptive sentences: are truthful and observable sentences (opinion- and assumption-free) that identify the most relevant factors in a social situation. They often answer "wh" questions.
*Perspective sentences: refer to or describe the internal state of other people (their knowledge/thoughts, feelings, beliefs, opinions, motivation or physical condition) so that the individual can learn how others' perceive various events.
*Directive sentences: presents or suggests, in positive terms, a response or choice of responses to a situation or concept.
*Affirmative sentences: enhances the meaning of statements and may express a commonly shared value or opinion. They can also stress the important points, refer to a law or rule to reassure the learner.
*Control sentences: identifies personal strategies the individual will use to recall and apply information. They are written by the individual after reviewing the social story.
*Cooperative sentences: describe what others will do to assist the individual. This helps to ensure consistent responses by a variety of people.
*Partial sentences: encourages the individual to make guesses regarding the next step in a situation, the response of another individual, or his/her own response. Any of the above sentences can be written as a partial sentence with a portion of the sentence being a blank space to complete.

Social story ratio: Two to five cooperative, descriptive, perspective, and/or affirmative sentences for every directive or control sentence.

Research

Population

It was suggested originally that this method should be used with only higher functioning individuals who possess basic language ability; however, these guidelines were expanded to include children with more severe learning disabilities. [cite journal |author = Swaggert BL "et al." |date= April 1995 |title= Using social stories to teach social and behavioral skills to children with autism |journal= Focus on Autistic Behavior |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages= pp. 1–16] To accommodate differences in ability, one sentence per page paired with pictures could help individuals concentrate on one concept at a time while the pictures enhance the meaning of the text. The addition of pictorial representation or visual is supported by claims that many individuals with an ASD learn visually. cite book |author = Quill KA |isbn=0827362692 |date=1995 |title= Teaching Children with Autism: Strategies to Enhance Communication and Socialization |location= New York |publisher= Delmar Publishers] [cite book |author= Grandin T |isbn=0679772898 |date=1996 |title= Thinking in Pictures |location= New York |publisher= Vintage Books, Random House] The efficacy of using social stories with other populations of individuals, other than those with an ASD, has not yet been sufficiently studied. cite journal |author= Nichols SL, Hupp SDA, Jewell JD, Zeigler CS |date=2005 |title = Review of social story interventions for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders |journal= Journal for Evidence-Based Practices for Schools |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages = pp. 90–120]

Evaluating research

Although social stories have been recommended as an effective intervention for children with ASD since the early 1990s, the research on their effectiveness is still limited.

The American Psychological Association has identified two levels of criteria which are used to consider an intervention "empirically supported". [cite journal | author = American Psychological Association | date = 1995 | title = Training in and dissemination of empirically-validated treatments: Report and recommendations | journal = Clinical Psychologist |volume= 48 | pages = pp. 3–24] An intervention is considered well established if it meets the following criteria:
* greater than nine well-controlled single-case design studies comparing the intervention to another treatment
* the studies have treatment manuals
* the studies clearly describe characteristics of the cline samplesAn intervention is considered probably efficacious if it meets the above criteria for greater than three single-case studies.

Social stories are neither considered well established, nor considered probably efficacious, due to the limitations of the current body of research.

Effectiveness

Reviews of the use of social stories have found that the reported effects were highly inconsistent, and there was substantial variation in the delivery of the intervention. Changes in target behavior were generally modest. A 2006 review found social stories to be in the non-effective range in interventions or at very best, in the low end of the mildly effective range. It was often hard to attribute success to the social story technique since there were multiple interventions used simultaneously.cite journal |author= Reynhout G, Carter M |date= 2007 |title= Social Story efficacy for a child with autism spectrum disorder and moderate intellectual disability |journal= Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages= pp. 173–82 |url=http://foa.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/22/3/173.pdf |format=PDF] Specifically, many of the studies used prompting methods such as verbal, visual or physical prompts and/or positive reinforcement. Two reviews suggested that continual implementation may be required; children should reread their social stories with some frequency to continue to benefit from their desired effects.

Social stories are a relatively straightforward interventioncite journal |journal= J Autism Dev Disord |date=2006 |volume=36 |issue=4 |pages=445–69 |title= Social Stories for children with disabilities |author= Reynhout G, Carter M |doi= 10.1007/s10803-006-0086-1 |pmid=16755384] that allows for stimulus control to be transferred from teachers and peers directly to the student with an ASD.

References