Using a Modified Social Story to Decrease Disruptive Behavior of a Child With Autism

Abstract

Despite the popularity of Social Stories^TM as an intervention for disruptive behavior in children with autism, there have been few investigations on the effectiveness of Social Stories. Scattone, Wilczynski, EdWards, and Rabian (2002) found that Social Stories decreased challenging behaviors in children With autism, but they identified verbal prompts as a source of variability to be examined in future study. The current study examined the effects of a modified social story, with and without verbal prompts, on the disruptive behavior of a student with autism in his preschool classroom. A reversal design Was used to compare the effectiveness of the modified social story With and Without verbal prompts. The disruptive behavior decreased during both phases of the intervention but to a greater degree when the story was paired with prompting. Maintenance probes conducted 2 weeks after intervention revealed that the modified social story had become a regular instructional routine for the student. Results are discussed in relation to study limitations, applications, and directions for future research.