350 likes | 578 Vues
Transitions: Using Social Stories™ to Facilitate Change for Students with Special Needs. Georgina Reynhout & Mark Carter. What is a Transition?.
E N D
Transitions: Using Social Stories™ to Facilitate Change for Students with Special Needs Georgina Reynhout & Mark Carter
What is a Transition? A transition is moving from one person, place or thing to another. When I wear one size of pants, but continue to grow, then I transition to a larger pants size. If I start playing in my own house or yard, but move to my neighbour’s house or yard to play with my friend, that is a transition. When I play with first one toy then another, that is also a transition. Many transitions happen each day!
Transitions: Using Social Stories™ to Facilitate Change for Students with Special Needs • Definition: Social Stories • Social Story criteria and guidelines • Constructing and implementing effective Social Stories • Using Social Stories to facilitate transitions
Definition: A Social Story “A Social StoryTMdescribes a situation, skill, or concept in terms of relevant social cues, perspectives, and common responses in a specifically defined style and format” (Gray, 2003, p.2) .
Social Stories criteria and guidelines • A Social Story meaningfully shares social information with a patient and reassuring quality, and at least 50% of all Social Stories affirm achievements. • A Social Story has an introduction that clearly identifies the topic, a body that adds detail, and a conclusion that reinforces and summarizes the information.
Social Stories criteria and guidelines • A Social Story answers “wh” questions. • A Social Story is written from a first or third person perspective. • A Social Story uses positive language.
Social Stories criteria and guidelines • A Social Story always contains descriptive sentences, with an option to include any one or more of the five remaining sentence types (perspective, cooperative, directive, affirmative, and/or control sentences). • A Social Story describes more than directs, following the Social Story formula.
Social Stories criteria and guidelines • A Social Story has a format that is tailored to the abilities and interests of its audience, and is usually literally accurate. • A Social Story may include individually tailored illustrations that enhance the meaning of the text. • A Social Story title meets all applicable Social Story Criteria.
Social Story sentence types • Descriptive sentences provide the factual information in relation to the “when or where” of the situation. • Perspective sentences provide information about the thoughts and feelings of the first or third persons. • Cooperative sentences identify “who” can assist the individual in a situation.
Social Stories sentence types • Directive sentences provide instruction on “what” the individual is to do. • Affirmative sentences can be used to reassure the individual. • Control sentences use analogies to explain situations.
Social Stories™ ratio Describe> 2 Direct
Social Story intervention: complex, multi-faceted and evolving • Social Story ratio • Use of visuals • Comprehension component • Affirmation
Constructing and Implementing Effective Social Stories • Participants • Settings • Behaviours targeted • Social Story construction and implementation • Efficacy
Calculation of Percentage of Non-Overlapping Data (PND) PND = 3 = 50% 6
Effect size as measured by PND • 91 and 100 = highly effective intervention • 71 and 90 = moderately effective • 51 and 70 = mildly effective • 0 and 50 = non-effective
Results • 26 Social Stories in 13 of 16 studies • 14 compliant PND=55.6 (mildly effective). • 6 non-compliant PND=79 (moderately effective).
How Can I Stay Calm During Transitions? Everyone has transitions at school. Some transitions may be easier for me than others.I can try to stay calm during transitions. If I like holding some thing in my hand, I can squeeze it to help me stay calm. I can take a deep breath and count silently to ten to stay calm. I can think to myself “I will try to stay calm”. This is my favourite way to stay calm ____________. I will try to stay calm during school transitions.
The Use of Social Stories to Reduce Precursors to Tantrum Behavior in a Student with Autism (Kuttler, S., Myles, B. S., & Carlson, J. K., 1998). • 12 year old boy with autism, Fragile X syndrome and intermittent explosive disorder • Support class • Precursors to tantrum behaviour • PND (morning work time) = 100 PND (lunch time) = 95
Using Social Stories and Comic Strip Conversations to Interpret Social Situations for an Adolescent with Asperger’s Syndrome (Rogers, M., & Myles, B. S., 2001). • 14 year old boy with Asperger’s syndrome. • Support class • Number of redirections and tardiness to class • No PND data
Effect of Social Story on Mean Number of Redirections and Time Tardy
The Effects of Social Stories on Anxiety Levels and Excessive Behavioral Expressions of Elementary School-aged Children with Autism (Cullain, 2002). • 4 boys, 1 girl aged 6-10 years • Specific target behaviours for each participant e.g. transitioning from the computer to other activities at home • PND (negative language) = 80 • PND ( ignoring and screaming) = 0
Using Social Stories to Enhance Behaviour in Children with Autistic Spectrum Difficulties (Smith, 2001). • 19 Social Stories used by teachers, parents and carers with children with ASD (15), learning difficulties (2), Tourette syndrome (1) and semantic pragmatic difficulties (1). • Home and school settings • Efficacy rated on 0-10 Likert scale.
Results • 13 of 19 stories achieved a rating of between 7 and 10, including • 5 stories achieved a rating of 10.
The Use of Social Stories by Teachers and their Perceived Efficacy (Reynhout & Carter, 2009). • 45 teachers working with children with autism spectrum disorders and other disabilities (e.g., intellectual disability) • Questionnaire • 81 sample Social Storiesprovided
The Use of Social Stories by Teachers and their Perceived Efficacy (Reynhout & Carter, 2009). • Characteristics of children with whom the Social Storieswere used • Behaviours targeted • How and why teachers used Social Stories (including compliance in construction and implementation).
The Use of Social Stories by Teachers and their Perceived Efficacy (Reynhout & Carter, 2009). • Teacher’s perceived: • acceptability, • applicability • efficacy • How teacher’s perceived efficacy varied across: • student characteristics • story construction • implementation characteristics.
Results of survey • 87% of teachers reported that they used Social Stories to facilitate the introduction of changes/new routines i.e., transitions. • 44% of sample stories described as being used to facilitate transitions.
Results of survey • 35 sample Social Stories pertaining to transitions 100% rated very effective or effective. • 27 of 35 (77%) used in conjunction with other interventions, e.g. prompting and positive reinforcement. • 23 of 35 (66%) were inappropriately modified in terms of the ratios of sentence types
Transitions: Using Social Stories to Facilitate Change for Students with Special Needs • Definition: Transitions • Definition: Social Stories • Social Story criteria and guidelines • Constructing and implementing effective Social Stories • Using Social Stories to facilitate transitions
Summary • Limited empirical evidence re: efficacy of Social Stories in facilitating transitions. • Validity of recommended guidelines is highly questionable. • Need for further research.
Selected References • Cullain, R. E. (2002). The effects of social stories on anxiety levels and excessive behavioral expressions of elementary school-aged children with autism. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The Union Institute Graduate College, Cincinnati, OH. • Gray, C., & Garand, J. D. (1993). Social stories: Improving responses of students with autism with accurate social information. Focus on Autistic Behavior, 8, 1-10. • Gray, C. (2003). Social Stories 10.0. Jenison Autism Journal, 15(4), 1-28. • Gray, C. (2005). Success at School: Starting School. The Social Stories Quarterly, 1 (3), 1-14.
Kuttler, S., Myles, B. S., & Carlson, J. K. (1998). The use of social stories to reduce precursors to tantrum behavior in a student with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, 13, 176-182. • Rogers, M., & Myles, B. S. (2001). Using social stories and comic strip conversations to interpret social situations for an adolescent with Asperger Syndrome. Intervention in School and Clinic, 36, 310-313. • Reynhout, G., & Carter, M. (2006). Social StoriesTM for children with disabilities. Journal of Autism & Developmental Disorders, 36, 445-469. • Reynhout, G., & Carter, M. (2009). The use of Social StoriesTM by teachers and their perceived efficacy. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 3, 232-251.