Using Social Stories with the creative arts for individuals on the autism spectrum: professionals’ perspectives and practices

This study examines professionals’ perspectives and practices regarding the use of Social Stories with the creative arts for individuals on the autism spectrum. These perspectives were investigated using a theoretical framework, which explored Social Stories based on Bandura’s social learning theory, and the nature of the creative arts based on Gardner’s multiple intelligences theory. These two theories were then integrated to explore professionals’ perspectives on the ways in which they approach the use of Social Stories in conjunction with the creative arts and the impact such uses produce. A mixed methods sequential design was used, starting with a questionnaire and followed by using series of qualitative analytical methods. Findings showed that professionals’ views concerning the use of Social Stories aligned strongly with Bandura’s observational learning principles. Additionally, professionals’ ways of working within the context of Social Stories reflected and supported the interrelationship between the four observation learning stages of attention, retention, reproduction and motivation. The study also revealed that the creative arts were considered beneficial in helping autistic individuals across different areas of learning as well as in their social and emotional development. The study also found that participants concurred with the idea of integrating Social Stories with the creative arts, but only at a moderate level, because the strategy may not be used by the majority of professionals. A variety of views, attitudes and suggestions were offered, along with concerns and challenges that were raised in relation to the impact of using Social Stories in conjunction with the creative arts. The final findings showed that professionals who used Social Stories with the creative arts reported using various forms of the arts for different intended impacts and purposes. The findings highlighted many ways of working and perceived positive effects with meeting the associated challenges. In conclusion, there are different areas within the structure of planning, delivering and evaluating Social Stories that can be supported by the integration of the creative arts, including interest, motivation, attention, retention of information, communication, engagement and assessing understanding. The combined use of Social Stories and the creative arts can also offer more opportunities for individuals with autism to play an active role within the process of learning. The inclusion of a creative modality can also be a useful way of engaging autistic individuals when using Social Stories, which increases the likelihood of more positive outcomes