Social+Stories

Kellie Snowden SPED 843  Dr. Aronin  Spring 2011

 Social Stories

__Description of Intervention Method __ Social stories are short stories that are written for a student about behavioral expectations for a specific activity that is challenging for the student. This method was developed by Carol Gray. There are four types of sentences that are required in Carol Gray’s guidelines for writing social stories. Descriptive sentences give factual information. Perspective sentences give information about thoughts and feelings of other people, and affirmative sentences reassure the reader. Directive sentences give instruction on what the reader should do. There have recently been two extra types of sentences that have been added to the guidelines. These are control sentences, which use analogies to explain a event, and cooperative sentences, which tell the student who can help in a specific situation. In order to limit the number of directive sentences used, the guidelines insist on using two to five cooperative, descriptive, perspective, or affirmative sentences for every directive or control sentence. Social stories can be individualized for each student. The goal of a social story is to give a student accurate social information in a way that is easy for them to understand. Social stories should be written from the perspective of the student. Some social stories also include pictures that help visual learners.

__Types of Students Who Benefit from the Method __ Social stories were first designed for children with autism spectrum disorders. However, they can be beneficial for individuals of all ages with autism. They can also be used with individuals with social and communication difficulties. Social stories can help even typically developing students understand social situations.

__Qualifications for Using the Method __ There are no required trainings or qualifications for individuals to write and implement social stories. Writers need to follow the guidelines and know the specific student’s strengths and weaknesses. Social stories can be written by teachers, parents, siblings, grandparents, and caregivers.

__Costs of Using the Method __ The costs associated with using social stories is low. An individual needs paper and writing utensils to create a simple social story. A computer, printer, and ink is needed to make a social story that you can save and edit on the computer.

__Potential Risks with Using the Method __ A potential issue associated with social stories is finding the time for a consistent schedule for reviewing the social story. They should be reviewed very often (typically daily) at first. It is important that the story be read frequently. Then, the schedule can be faded. If a teacher pulls a student aside to read the social story, the student could be singled out. Sometimes social stories are too vague for a student. If there is not much change in the student’s behavior, the social story may need to be rewritten.

__Benefits of Using the Method __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Social stories teach students how to behave in social situations. Social stories can increase appropriate behaviors and independence. Social stories can work on a student’s self-awareness, self-calming, and self-management.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Settings for Method Use __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Social stories can be used in multiple settings. Because they are written about a specific event, they are read before the event they are written about. So, if the social story is about lining up, the teacher or student would read the story before lining up. In this case, the story could be read in a regular education classroom, special education classroom, art classroom, etc. The student’s difficulty and the story itself determine which setting it will be used it.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Field’s Attitude Towards the Method __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Social stories are commonly used in the field of special education. Many educators have a positive attitude towards social stories.

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; text-align: center;">Summary of Research Study

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Crozier, S., & Tincani, M. (2007). Effects of social stories on prosocial behavior of preschool children with autism spectrum disorders. //Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 37,// 1803-1814.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Description of Subjects __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">There were three participants in this study. Thomas and Daniel were a 3-year, 9-month old males. James was a 5-year, 1-month old male. All of the participants were diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder and attended full inclusion classrooms in an early childhood education preschool.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Description of Research Design __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The study took place in the participants’ classrooms. Target behaviors were chosen based on teacher reports and classroom observations of behaviors that interfered with learning or socialization of the participant. The target behaviors were the dependent variables. A social story was developed for each student. Baseline (A), Intervention (B), and a second intervention phases (C) were used in this study. An ABAB reversal design was used for two students and an ABCACBC multicomponent reversal design was used for Daniel because the intervention was not effective. So, for the second intervention, the social story plus verbal prompts was used. Then, maintenance probes were done 2 and 3 weeks after the intervention by the teachers.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Dependent Variable __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">For Thomas, the dependent variable was the cumulative time he was sitting appropriately during the first 10 minutes of morning circle. For Daniel, it was the amount of unprompted verbal interactions when talking with his peers during snack time. For James, the dependent variable was the amount of appropriate play events with peers he exhibited in the block center.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Independent Variable __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">The independent variable was the use of a social story.

__<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Summary of Results __ <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">Overall, Thomas had a 64% increase in the amount of time he sat appropriately at circle from the baseline to the final intervention phase. Daniel exhibited an increase of 5.8 unprompted verbal interactions per session from baseline to final intervention. James displayed a decrease of 3.91 in the average number of inappropriate behaviors and increased the average number of appropriate behaviors per session by 15.86. In this study, there was an increase in appropriate behaviors and a decrease in inappropriate behaviors for all participants.