The Effectiveness of Social StoriesTM on children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Abstract

Over the last two decades, a variety of different interventions have been suggested for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Social Stories are brief individualized stories which were introduced by Carol Gray in 1991. Originally were designed for children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Gray described ten guidelines - defining criteria for Social StoriesTM. They are based on the Theory of Mind, the theory of the Weak Central Coherence and the difficulty of questioning skills and social interaction of children with ASD.Social Stories is a popular intervention for the enhancement of social skills of these children, which was characterized as an effective treatment by the National Autism Centre in 2009. However, social story's effectiveness and the research evidence to support this intervention is still under investigation.The purpose of this literature review focuses on Social Stories and their effectiveness on children with ASD. Firstly, a reference on the history and the guidelines of Social Stories is provided. Next, the difficulties and deficits of ASD children in conjunction with the underpinning theories of Social Stories are illustrated and finally, an investigation is outlined behind the effectiveness of social stories and the fact that their popularity exceeds their evidence-base. It seems that the popularity of social stories exceeds, to a small degree, the evidence-base of this intervention. The reason why this happens is still under investigation. Last, a number of methodological weaknesses still remain apparent in research.