Efficacy of Social Stories that Teach Prosocial Behavior and Applaud Accomplishments using Best Practices

With the increase in the prevalence rate of children with autism in the U.S. there is a growing need for empirically based treatments to address the many deficits that children with autism manifest. Social Stories™ is one such treatment that has grown in popularity to address social deficits in children with autism. However, no meta-analysis done in recent years has found Social Stories™ to be an effective treatment, stating weak and inconsistent research methodologies as one of the primary issues in the studies examined. The current study sought to examine the use of Social Stories™ using best practice research standards for single subject design. A total of 4 elementary aged students with a special education eligibility of autism participated in the study. Results of the study revealed an increase in pro-social skills for all 4 participants and a promising future for further Social Story™ research and the quest to recognize it as an effective, empirically based treatment for children with autism. Furthermore, teachers reported that they found Social Stories™ to be an effective, feasible intervention, that helped them to better understand their students’ social deficits