Effect of Social Stories Designed and Presented by Pre-Service Teachers on Social Skills Acquisition of Children with Autism

Abstract

Introduction: Social stories (SS) are among evidence-based practices that are known to be effective in support of behavioral and educational needs of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). It is very important for teachers to present evidence-based practices with high application reliability for children with ASD to reach their target skills. This study aimed to examine the effect of SS that were designed and presented by pre-service teachers (PST) on target social skill (sharing toys, saying hello, and forming a line) acquisition, maintenance, and generalization of preschool children with ASD.Method: The study was conducted with a multiple probe design across dyads, and content analysis was used for the assessment of social validity data obtained in the study. Two different groups participated in the present study. The first group included children with ASD and the second group included PST who attended teaching practice courses.Results: Study results demonstrated that PST achieved the skill of accurately authoring and applying the SS after the provided training, while children with ASD acquired the target social skills, maintained and generalized these social skills. Social validity data showed that the study was considered positively both by PST and the parents of participating children with ASD.Discussion: PST wrote social stories correctly and applied with high treatment integrity. Children with ASD quickly acquired, maintained and generalized target social skills. The PST’s writing and implementation of SS with high application reliability is consistent with the research findings in the literature.