Social stories: mechanisms of effectiveness in increasing game play skills in children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder using a pretest posttest repeated measures randomized control group design

J Autism Dev Disord. 2009 Feb;39(2):299-321. doi: 10.1007/s10803-008-0628-9. Epub 2008 Aug 13.

Abstract

An increasing body of literature has indicated that social stories are an effective way to teach individuals diagnosed with autism appropriate social behavior. This study compared two formats of a social story targeting the improvement of social skills during game play using a pretest posttest repeated measures randomized control group design. A total of 45 children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) ages 7-14 were randomly assigned to standard, directive, or control story conditions. Results demonstrated that the standard and directive story formats were equally as effective in eliciting, generalizing and maintaining the targeted social skills in participants who had prior game play experience and Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) scores from the WISC-IV intelligence test in the borderline range or above.

Publication types

  • Randomized Controlled Trial

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Autistic Disorder / diagnosis
  • Autistic Disorder / therapy*
  • Behavior Therapy / methods*
  • Behavior Therapy / statistics & numerical data
  • Child
  • Choice Behavior
  • Female
  • Helping Behavior*
  • Humans
  • Interpersonal Relations
  • Male
  • Narration
  • Play and Playthings / psychology*
  • Research Design
  • Review Literature as Topic
  • Social Behavior*