Social stories
Encyclopedia
Social Stories are a concept devised by Carol Gray
in 1991 to improve the social skills of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Social Stories are short stories written or tailored to an autistic individual to help them understand and behave appropriately in social situations. The stories have a specifically defined style and format.
They describe a situation in terms of relevant social cues, the perspective of others, and often suggest an appropriate response. They may also be used to applaud accomplishments; roughly 50% of all Social Stories are targeted to be used for this reason.
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.
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. Social Stories are used to teach particular social skills, 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.
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.
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, apron story-telling, and computer-based presentations.
Social Story ratio: Two to five cooperative, descriptive, perspective, and/or affirmative sentences for every directive or control sentence.
The American Psychological Association
has identified two levels of criteria which are used to consider an intervention "empirically supported". An intervention is considered well established if it meets the following criteria:
An 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.
. 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 intervention that allows for stimulus control
to be transferred from teachers and peers directly to the student with an ASD.
Carol Gray
Carol Gray is the Director of the Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is best known for her creation of social stories, short stories used as a teaching tool for autistic children that describe a potentially challenging situation, skill, or concept in...
in 1991 to improve the social skills of people with autism spectrum disorders (ASD).
Social Stories are short stories written or tailored to an autistic individual to help them understand and behave appropriately in social situations. The stories have a specifically defined style and format.
They describe a situation in terms of relevant social cues, the perspective of others, and often suggest an appropriate response. They may also be used to applaud accomplishments; roughly 50% of all Social Stories are targeted to be used for this reason.
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.
Ownership
Carol Gray owns the trademark of the term 'Social Story', and she prohibits the sale of Social Stories by people not authorised by her, and prohibits training people to write Social Stories other than by members of her team. People wishing to mention Social Stories in a book are requested to send their manuscript for (paid) review by Carol Gray's team in order to avoid legal action.Detail
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.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. Social Stories are used to teach particular social skills, 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.
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.
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, apron story-telling, and computer-based presentations.
Types of sentences
There are seven sentence types that may be used in a Social Story.- 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.
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. 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. The efficacy of using Social Stories with other populations of individuals, other than those with an ASD, has not yet been sufficiently studied.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
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
has identified two levels of criteria which are used to consider an intervention "empirically supported". 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 samples
An 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. Specifically, many of the studies used prompting methods such as verbal, visual or physical prompts and/or positive reinforcementReinforcement
Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of increasing the rate or probability of a behavior in the form of a "response" by the delivery or emergence of a stimulus Reinforcement is a term in operant conditioning and behavior analysis for the process of...
. 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 intervention that allows for stimulus control
Stimulus control
Stimulus control is the phenomenon of a stimulus increasing the probability of a behavior because of a history of that behavior being differentially reinforced in the presence of the stimulus...
to be transferred from teachers and peers directly to the student with an ASD.