Social Stories and Autism Ranking:

Future Research

Summary of Existing Research

There is a small amount of high quality research evidence (four randomised controlled trials) on the use of social stories as an intervention for autistic children or adults but the results are mixed.

There is a considerable amount of low quality evidence (more than 80 studies) to suggest that social stories may reduce unwanted behaviours and increase social interaction in some autistic children.

There have been a number of scientific reviews of social stories as an intervention for autistic individuals. The majority of these have concluded that there is insufficient evidence to determine if social stories are effective for autistic people. For example, 

• Bozkurt and Vuran (2014) concluded ‘… social stories should not yet be considered as evidence based practice for teaching social skills to individuals with ASD”.
• McGill et al (2015) stated “… the current meta-analysis indicates that the effectiveness of Social Story interventions is limited and that they should be used cautiously as a therapy for treating problem behaviours in children and adolescents with ASD”. 
• Qui et al (2015), stated “Social stories have been shown to be effective in decreasing inappropriate behavior. However, mixed results were found when social stories were used to increase social communication skills as well as other appropriate behaviors.”
• Reynhout and Carter (2006) stated “Examination of data suggests the effects of Social Stories are highly variable. Interpretations of extant studies are frequently confounded by inadequate participant description and the use of Social Stories in combination with other interventions. It is unclear whether particular components of Social Stories are central to their efficacy. Data on maintenance and generalization are also limited”.
• Rust and Smith (2006) stated “Whilst the existing literature suggests positive findings with respect to the effectiveness of Social Stories, there is considerable variability in the quality of research methodology, with no single study employing comprehensive, stringent standards”.
• Sansoti et al (2005) “Overall, the empirical foundation regarding the effectiveness of Social Stories is limited. Although the published research demonstrates positive effects of Social Stories and provides preliminary support that Social Stories are effective with individuals with ASD, the results of previous research should be considered with caution. Due to a lack of experimental control, weak treatment effects, or confounding treatment variables in the reviewed studies, it is difficult to determine if Social Stories alone were responsible for durable changes in important social behaviors. Thus, it may be premature, based on the current literature, to suggest that Social Stories are an evidence-based approach when working with individuals with ASD”. 

Recommendations for Future Research

Future studies should 

• Use more scientifically robust, experimental methodologies with larger numbers of participants.
• Provide more details about the participants, such as whether they had a formal diagnosis of autism, intellectual ability etc.
• Ensure that the social stories follow the criteria established by Carol Gray including adequate assessment before a story is created and adequate assessment after the story has been used.
• Examine which elements of social stories (such as sentence type, format of presentation etc.) if any, are the most important for which outcomes for which groups of people.
• Compare social stories with other interventions which are designed to achieve similar results, such as video modelling.
• Determine if social stories can be used as one of the elements within comprehensive, multi-component, treatment models.
• Identify if social stories can be used in areas not previously examined, for example, improving study skills.
• Identify if the social stories have any beneficial effects in the medium to long term.
• Identify if social stories have any beneficial effects in real world settings
• Involve autistic people in the design, development and evaluation of those studies.

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Jul 2017

Next Review

01 Oct 2023