The use of Social Stories by teachers and their perceived efficacy

Social StoriesTM: does the research evidence support the popularity?

“…In the author's experience it is frequently recommended by children's services professionals and is listed as an appropriate strategy in his local authority's policy and training guidance on promoting the inclusion of children with ASDs. The National Autistic Society lists Social Stories TM among a range of support strategies in their resource pack for school staff (National Autistic Society, 2009) and Reynhout and Carter (2009) reported that 100% of respondents to a survey of teachers working with ASD children had used Social Stories TM in the classroom and agreed that it was an acceptable intervention. Ninety-three per cent also perceived it to be an effective intervention (Reynhout & Carter, 2009 Descriptive Describes where, why and how a situation occurs and who is involved.…”

Brief Report: Increasing Verbal Greeting Initiations for a Student with Autism Via a Social Story™ Intervention

“…Recent reviews of Social Stories (Ali and Fredreickson 2006;Reynhout and Carter 2006;Sansosti et al 2004) have identified a number of different skills to which Social Stories have been applied in research including (a) general social skills, (b) on-task behavior, (c) appropriate social and play behaviors, (d) social communication, (e) disruptive or problematic behaviors, and (f) inappropriate social behaviors. Although Social Stories have become a common intervention for individuals with autism in school settings (Reynhout and Carter 2009), the empirical evidence on the efficacy of the practice is mixed; while the outcomes of the studies evaluating the efficacy of Social Stories has been positive, major methodological limitations were often present that hinder the ability to conclude with confidence that Social Stories are an effective method for addressing the needs of individuals with autism (Ali and Fredreickson 2006;Reynhout and Carter 2006;Sansosti et al 2004).…”

Using social stories for students on the autism spectrum: teacher perspectives

“…In addition, numerous reports describe outcomes of other strategies that have been used with a great deal of success to help individuals with ASDs develop social-emotional skills, for example, cognitive behavioural intervention (Bauminger, 2002), peer mediation (Kamps et al, 2002;Licciardello, Harchik, & Luiselli, 2008) and commercially made video prompts (Mechling, Ayers, Foster, & Bryant, 2013). After an extensive search, only one publication (Reynhout & Carter, 2009) was found that focused on a teacher's point of view on the use of social stories to help students with ASDs. A qualitative study was conducted to investigate how teachers create social stories and to uncover their perspectives about the impact of these stories on students with ASDs.…”

“…Researchers found that not all individuals with ASD made meaningful improvements in their behaviours, especially over the long term, after the use of social stories (Ganz, Kaylor, Bourgeois, & Hadden, 2008;Hagiwara & Myles, 1999;Reynhout & Carter, 2009;Sansosti & Powell-Smith, 2008;Scattone, Tingstrom, & Wilczynski, 2006). When social stories were used correctly, they helped decrease inappropriate behaviours, increased desired ones and even helped students with autism understand how their behaviours affected others (Adams, Gouvousis, VanLue, & Waldron, 2004;Crozier and Tiscani, 2005;Ozdemir, 2008;Reynhout & Carter, 2007, 2009Swaggart & Gagnon, 1995).…”