Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, Vol. 32, No.

6, December 2002 (© 2002)

Decreasing Disruptive Behaviors of Children

with Autism Using Social Stories

Dorothy Scattone,1,5 Susan M. Wilczynski,2 Ron P. Edwards,3

and Brian Rabian4

Few studies have been conducted in the area of social stories, and the limitations of these stud-
ies (i.e., improper story construction and methodological confounds) raise questions about ef-
fectiveness of social story interventions. This study examined the effectiveness of properly
constructed social stories that have been introduced into the natural environment to target the
disruptive behavior of three children with autism. A multiple baseline design across participants
was employed, and a decrease in disruptive behavior was evidenced when the intervention was
implemented for all participants. Based on the results of the present research, future areas of
investigation outlining the limitations and potential benefits of social stories were discussed.

KEY WORDS: Autism; social stories; disruptive behavior.

INTRODUCTION used to address a range of social excesses or deficits.

Disruptive behavior can interfere with the educa-
tion of both the child creating the disruption and other
children who share the class. In addition, it may also
interfere with the social interactions of the child dis-
rupting the class because this child is often identified
as “troublesome” or “different” (Harris, Milich, Cor-
bitt, & Hoover, 1992). Although disruptive behavior
should be targeted for intervention with any child
whose behavior interferes with classroom functioning,
it seems particularly critical to intervene when children
with autism are disruptive, given the educational and
social impairments most bring to these settings.
Social stories represent a relatively new inter-
vention designed for children with autism that can be
1
University of Mississippi Medical Center.
2
University of Nebraska Medical Center.
3
The University of Southern Mississippi.
4
Pennsylvania State University.
5
Correspondence should be addressed to: Department of Pediatrics,
Division of Child Development and Behavioral Medicine, The Uni-
versity of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street,
Jackson, MS 39216-4505; e-mail: dscattone@ped.umsmed.edu
535
A social story is a short story that is written in a child-
specific format describing a social situation, person,
skill, event, or concept in terms of relevant cues and
appropriate social responses (Gray, 1998). Each social
story is designed to teach children with autism how to
manage their own behavior during a given social sit-
uation by describing where the activity will take place,
when it will occur, what will happen, who is partici-
pating, and why the child should behave in a given
manner (Gray, 1998). Gray outlined specific guide-
lines for the development of social stories in her book
addressing the intervention (see Table I).
Unlike many other interventions for children with
autism, social stories may draw on a unique quality
these children may have. Specifically, because children
with autism often rigidly adhere to routines, the social
story may serve to establish a routine or a rule that the
child may then apply to the social situation. In addition
to drawing on this strength, the format of the social
story may be less intrusive than alternative treatments
for addressing social skill deficits in children with
autism. By presenting the instructions in a written for-
mat (as opposed to interaction verbally to present the
instructions), the social aspect of instruction delivery
0162-3257/02/1200-0535/0 © 2002 Plenum Publishing Corporation
536
Table I. Gray’s (1998) Social Story Guidelines
1. Write social stories from the perspective of the individual with
autism.
2. Use a combination of descriptive, perspective, and directive
sentences.
● Descriptive sentences describe what people do in a given so-
cial situation, why they are doing it, when and where the
event will take place, and who will be involved.
● Perspective sentences describe the thoughts and feelings of
other individuals. These sentences may be related to conse-
quences because they describe how another individual may
react when the individual with autism engages in the behavior.
● Directive sentences state the goals of the story by listing the
responses the student is expected to provide during a given
situation.
3. Employ the social story ratio: one directive sentence for every
two to five descriptive and/or perspective sentences.
is minimized and may reduce the aversiveness of re-
ceiving instruction. Thus a social story may allow a
child with autism to receive rules governing social be-
havior in a manner that will maximize the likelihood
the child will benefit from instruction.
Although Gray and Garand (1993) have reportedly
used this approach with hundreds of children with
autism, there is a dearth of empirical studies with strong
internal validity that support their use. The first pub-
lished study on social stories conducted by Swaggert
et al. (1995) involved combining social stories with a
behavioral social skills training model and, for one par-
ticipant, a response-cost system. Reinforcers were in-
corporated into the social skills training strategy to
encourage the desired responses. Child-specific social
stories that included drawings and photographs were
created for three children with autism. The participants
included an 11-year-old girl who greeted strangers in-
appropriately and two 7-year-old boys whose inappro-
priate behaviors consisted of aggression, inappropriate
play, and grabbing toys. The social stories were eval-
uated using an AB design, and the behavior of all three
children improved subsequent to intervention imple-
mentation. However, given the limitations of an AB de-
sign and the fact that the social stories were combined
with other interventions, the source of improvement
could not be isolated to social stories.
Kuttler, Myles, and Carlson (1998) extended this
area of research by using social stories across two dif-
ferent settings in an effort to reduce the pretantrum be-
haviors of a 12-year-old boy with autism. Target
behaviors included screaming, cursing, and dropping to
the floor. Two separate social stories were created (i.e.,
one for lunch-time and one for work-time). In addition
Scattone, Wilczynski, Edwards, and Rabian
to social stories, other interventions (i.e., verbal prompts
and a token economy) were in place. An ABAB design
was employed with each social story beginning simul-
taneously. Although a reduction in pretantrum behav-
iors was noted, the social stories were again combined
with other interventions, making it difficult to deter-
mine if the social story alone was effective or if the com-
bination of the social story with the verbal prompts and
the token economy produced the behavior change.
Social stories have also been used in an effort to
improve the social interactions during lunch-time of an
8-year-old girl with autism (Norris & Dattilo, 1999). Tar-
get behaviors were increasing appropriate social inter-
actions and decreasing inappropriate verbalizations.
This study differed from the others in that three dif-
ferent social stories were developed to target the same
situation and the pages of each social story included
color picture symbols. An AB design was employed to
evaluate the effectiveness of the social stories. Unfor-
tunately, inappropriate vocalizations and appropriate
social interactions decreased. Again, limitations to the
research design and the unusual construction of the in-
tervention impedes direct interpretation of the results.
It is unclear if (a) social stories used in isolation are in-
effective in improving the social interactions of chil-
dren with autism; (b) using more than one social story
to target one social situation is confusing, thus reduc-
ing the effectiveness of the intervention; or (c) if so-
cial stories are more effective in reducing behavioral
excesses than in increasing behavioral deficits.
A recent investigation presented social stories to
participants in a computer-based format (Hagiwara &
Myles, 1999). Three boys with autism between the ages
of 7 and 10 years served as participants. The target be-
haviors were handwashing (participants 1 and 2) and
on-task behavior (participant 3). The social stories were
evaluated using a multiple baseline design across set-
tings. Handwashing did not systematically improve
upon introduction in each setting for participant 1.
Although improvements in handwashing occurred for
participant 2, low rates of independent handwashing
occurred. For the third participant, a stable pattern of
remaining on-task behavior never occurred, and, un-
fortunately, data could not be collected in all settings.
Because the social story did not follow Gray’s (1998)
guidelines, it is uncertain whether these results are due
to a failure of the technique itself or to insufficient con-
struction of the social story.
Social stories may effectively help address the
social/behavioral needs of individuals with autism;
however, limitations in existing research have made
interpretation of current research findings difficult.
Social Stories
Therefore the present study was designed to investi-
gate the use of social stories constructed within the
parameters of Gray’s (1998) guidelines. Specifically,
the extent to which social stories effectively reduce
the disruptive behaviors of children with autism when
no planned behavior management systems are in place
was examined.
METHOD
Participants
Three children with an existing diagnosis of autis-
tic disorder were selected from an elementary school
and a high school in the southern region of the United
States to participate in this study. Parental consent was
obtained for each participant. Participants were be-
tween the ages of 7 and 15 years, were capable of com-
municating using speech, and were members of
self-contained special education classrooms.
Participant 1 was Kenny, a 7-year-old male, whose
target behavior was tipping his chair backward or side-
ways, which sometimes resulted in his falling on the
floor. Kenny spoke in complete sentences, was capa-
ble of reading, and read his social story to the teacher
every morning. Kenny obtained standard scores in the
40s on IQ and communication instruments (44 IQ Com-
posite on the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth
Edition, Thorndike, Hagen, & Sattler, 1986; 40 on the
Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test: Third Edition, Dunn
& Dunn, 1997; 40 on the Expressive Vocabulary Test;
Williams, 1997). He received a diagnosis of autistic
disorder before the study through collaboration of an
area school and the second author.
Participant 2 was John, a 15-year-old male whose
disruptive behavior consisted of staring inappropriately
at females during recess. This behavior often disrupted
the activities of other students who were nearby and
disrupted the teacher who attended to the behavior. In
addition, staring often preceded masturbatory behav-
ior. He was also capable of reading, and read his so-
cial story to the teacher’s aide in the classroom.
Before and throughout this study, John participated
in another study designed to increase on-task behavior.
His Mental Processing Composite as measured by the
Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC;
Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983) was 82. John received a
diagnosis of autistic disorder from an outside agency
and was referred to the second author for treatment.
Participant 3 was Howard, a 7-year-old male who
was a member of the same classroom as Kenny and
who shouted during math class. Shouting often dis-
537
rupted the lesson and sometimes led to other students
shouting as well. Howard was not yet able to read in-
dependently; therefore, the teacher read the social story
to him. His Mental Processing Composite as measured
by the K-ABC (Kaufman & Kaufman, 1983) was 67.
Howard also received a diagnosis of autistic disorder
from the school working in conjunction with the sec-
ond author prior to this study.
Materials
Social Stories
Three child-specific social stories were developed
to target each participant’s respective disruptive be-
havior (see Appendix). The social stories consisted of
a written script of the targeted situation and included
the responses the participant was expected to make. The
social stories were constructed according to the guide-
lines proposed by Gray (1998). The social stories for
Kenny, John, and Howard were nine, eight, and eight
pages in length, respectively. The stories were printed
on white paper with a 16-point font, mounted on black
construction paper, and laminated to keep them intact
throughout the study.
Design
A multiple baseline design across participants was
used to evaluate the effectiveness of the social stories on
reducing disruptive behaviors (Kazdin, 1982). This de-
sign requires the intervention to be implemented in a
staggered fashion across three different series so that
each participant serves as a control for the other partic-
ipants. This design was selected to strengthen the inter-
nal validity of the simple phase change (AB design) by
reducing alternative explanations for a change in the sec-
ond condition (Hayes, Barlow, & Nelson-Gray, 1999).
Procedure
Baseline and Intervention
Undergraduate and graduate students collected
baseline data after receiving training in data collection
procedures and research ethics. During baseline and in-
tervention data collection, the teacher was instructed to
respond to each participant’s disruptive behavior as she
had been before the start of the study.
During the intervention phase, the teacher (or
teacher’s aide) introduced the social story to each par-
ticipant on an individual basis. The teacher read the so-
cial story and assessed comprehension by asking the
538
participant a predetermined set of questions related to
the story the first time the intervention was introduced.
All participants answered the comprehension questions
with 100% accuracy.
Thereafter, Kenny read the social story aloud to
the teacher once each morning before class began. John
read the social story to the teacher’s aide approximately
1 hr before his target situation (i.e., recess) was to
occur. The time selected for John reading his social
story differed from the other participants because of his
late arrival to school as per school-home determination.
Howard was not yet capable of reading independently;
therefore the teacher read the social story to him each
morning before class began. Social stories for all par-
ticipants were accessible throughout the day. For ex-
ample, for Kenny and Howard they were propped up
on the blackboard and for John the story was kept on
top of the teacher’s desk throughout the day. However,
teacher report indicated that none of the students ac-
cessed their stories independently.
Data Collection and Interobserver Agreement
Graduate and undergraduate students recorded the
occurrence of disruptive behaviors using a 10-s cued
partial interval recording system during 20-min obser-
vations for each participant approximately 3 times per
week. For Kenny, data were collected mid-morning
during large group activity; for John, data were col-
lected outdoors during recess in the early afternoon;
and for Howard, data were collected in the early after-
noon during math.
Interobserver agreement was calculated by divid-
ing the number of agreements by the total number of
agreements plus disagreements and multiplying by 100.
Interobserver agreement was defined as occasions when
both observers agreed that a behavior either occurred
or did not occur. Disagreement was defined as occa-
sions when one observer indicated the occurrence of a
behavior but the second observer did not verify this oc-
currence. Interobserver agreement was measured dur-
ing 30% of the observations.
Treatment Integrity
A daily checklist was used to assess treatment in-
tegrity. On the checklist, the teacher indicated whether
or not the participant read or was read the social story
that day at the specified time. For 25% of the inter-
vention sessions, a researcher was present to record on
a checklist whether or not the social story was read that
day. Treatment integrity was computed as a percentage
Scattone, Wilczynski, Edwards, and Rabian
by dividing the number of days the participant read/was
read the social story by the number of total days in the
intervention phase and multiplying by 100.
Intervention Acceptability
Teacher acceptability of the social story interven-
tion was assessed after the final phase of the study by
having the participant’s teacher complete the Inter-
vention Rating Profile (IRP-15; Martens, Witt, Elliott,
& Darveaux, 1985). The IRP-15 is a 15-item scale that
was developed to evaluate the acceptability of a given
treatment. Reliability of the instrument is .98 (Martens
et al., 1985). Scores on the IRP-15 can range from 15
to 90, with higher scores indicating a greater accep-
tance level. Scores above 52.50 are acceptable (Von
Brock & Elliott, 1987).
Data Analysis
Dependent Variables
The effect of each social story was assessed by
measuring the percentage of intervals of disruptive be-
havior during 20-min observations. Disruptive behav-
ior was defined for each participant based on information
obtained during a meeting between the participant’s
teacher and the principal investigator. For Kenny, chair
tipping was defined as occurring when one chair leg
broke contact with the floor. For John, staring was
defined as looking at a female for 3 consecutive s or
more. For Howard, shouting was defined as raising his
voice above the typical level.
Analysis
Disruptive behavior was graphed as a percent-
age of intervals per session for each participant. Data
points collected during baseline and intervention were
inspected visually for changes in level, variability,
and trend (Hayes, Barlow, & Nelson-Gray, 1999;
Kazdin, 1982).
RESULTS
Interobserver Agreement
Interobserver agreement data were collected nine
times during the study per student (i.e., once per week
for 9 weeks), representing 30% of the observations. For
Kenny and Howard, interobserver agreement was
100%. For John, interobserver agreement was 93%
(range ⫽ 89–100%).
Social Stories
Treatment Integrity and Treatment Acceptability
For Kenny and Howard, treatment integrity was
100%. For John, treatment integrity was 91%. Because
of a less than 100% level of treatment integrity for John,
the teacher was reminded daily to have the participant
read the social story.
Scores on the IRP-15 were well within the ac-
ceptable range for all participants. Specifically, the
score for Kenny was 78, the score for John was 68, and
the score for Howard was 70.
Disruptive Behavior
All three participants demonstrated a reduction in
their respective disruptive behaviors (Fig. 1) after the
social story was introduced, although the level of im-
provement varied for all three participants. For Kenny,
chair tipping ranged from 48 to 60% of intervals dur-
ing baseline (mean 50%). However, the first time the
intervention was introduced, chair tipping decreased
dramatically to a mean of 17% of intervals. Through-
out the intervention phase of the study, chair tipping
averaged 4.6% of intervals (range 0–17%). For John,
Fig. 1. Percentages of disruptive behavior for Kenny, John,
and Howard.
539
staring averaged 66.9% of intervals (range 50–85%)
during baseline and was reduced to an average of 18.3%
of intervals (range 0–58%). For Howard, shouting dur-
ing baseline averaged 16.0% of intervals (range 0–
40%). However, during the intervention phase shout-
ing was more stable and occurred at a low rate and av-
eraged 5.1% of intervals (range 2–10%).
Anecdotally, after the intervention had been in
place for 1 week, Kenny was observed reciting his so-
cial story to another student in the classroom who was
tipping his chair. In fact, when Howard’s social story
was read at the designated time each morning, Kenny
was often observed nearby watching and listening.
Also, Kenny sometimes read the social story created
for Howard out loud. Thus, although Howard did not
independently read the social story more often than was
intended, he was exposed to the story more than one
time per day on more than one occasion. Therefore it
is unknown how effective this intervention would have
been had the social story been read only once per day.
Gray’s (1998) guidelines do not prohibit the number of
readings of the social story per day, but the effect of a
single reading could not be assessed. With respect to
social validity, Kenny’s teacher was pleased with the
results and expressed an interest in creating social sto-
ries for other disruptive problem behaviors that Kenny
demonstrated.
Social stories are often described as an interven-
tion that can be enjoyable for children with autism.
However, the effectiveness of the social stories may
not always have been associated with fondness for the
story in the present study. Although some participants
may have enjoyed the intervention (e.g., Kenny who
like to read), this did not appear to be the case with all
participants. John often resisted reading the social story.
Specifically, he often sat with the story placed in front
of him for approximately 5 min before opening it and
he repeatedly asked the teacher if he could “skip read-
ing it.” In addition, he requested changing the title from
“It’s OK to Look at Girls” to “It’s OK to Look at Lots
of Girls.” However, his resistance to task demands was
not restricted to reading social stories; he resisted com-
pleting many of his class assignments as well. Despite
his resistance to reading the story aloud, the interven-
tion appeared effective, and John tried multiple strate-
gies for complying with the rules stated in the story.
For example, he pulled his sweatshirt over his head dur-
ing a portion of the last four observations. During ses-
sion 17 he sat with his sweatshirt over his head for the
duration of the observation. Thus, although staring was
effectively decreased, an appropriate response to the
presence of females was not always evidenced.
540
The goal of the social story intervention was to
improve appropriate attending to females in the envi-
ronment by having John look at girls for shorter peri-
ods of time rather than by having him cover his face
and/or head. Modifications to social stories may be nec-
essary to address idiosyncratic responding to the sto-
ries as they are initially written. For example, instead
of simply stating that John should “look at something
else,” alternative objects of visual focus could have
been offered (e.g., his feet, another person, school
work, etc.). Also, appropriate initiating skills could
have been added to the story used in the current study.
The extent to which John’s staring was reduced
outside of the data collection period is unknown. In-
formal reports made by the teacher indicated that John
sometimes stared when observers were not present,
although staring was reported to occur for shorter pe-
riods of time than before the intervention was imple-
mented. It was difficult to determine if the presence of
the observers influenced John’s staring. Observers were
present in the schoolyard three times per week for sev-
eral weeks before the intervention was implemented
and John openly stared at females in the presence of
the observers at that time. Perhaps the covering of his
face and/or head was in response to the social story
interacting with an awareness of being observed. This
may be corrected in future studies if the individuals
collecting data in the natural environment do not ex-
clusively serve the role of data collectors. For exam-
ple, a different data collection procedure (e.g.,
momentary time sampling) could be used throughout
the day by a teacher and/or teacher’s aide who were
willing to collect data.
Overall the intervention was effective despite the
fact John did not read the story every day during the
course of the study. Interestingly, elevated levels of
staring were associated with lower treatment integrity
for John. After reading the social story for the first time
on session 9, John stared for 42% of the intervals,
which represented a reduction from his lowest baseline
data point. However, John did not read the social story
on session 10, and staring increased to near baseline
levels (58%). When integrity improved (i.e., he read
the social story) before session 11, staring significantly
decreased (26%) and began to stabilize. Thus, although
no systematic effort was made to consider the issue of
integrity and outcome in the present study, these data
suggest social stories may be effective even when not
implemented with 100% integrity. This possibility has
yet to be examined empirically.
The consistency with which social stories must be
read to sustain beneficial results may also have impli-
Scattone, Wilczynski, Edwards, and Rabian
cations for long-term behavior changes. To date, no
study has examined the longevity of successful out-
comes associated with social stories. John also could
not read the story on sessions 14 and 15 because he did
not attend school on those days, and data were not col-
lected for these sessions for John. No increases in star-
ing were evidenced when he John returned to school.
However, it is noteworthy that he read the story again
upon his return to school and had been recently exposed
to the story. Brief exposure to the story may be suffi-
cient to alter behavior in some cases or a high degree
of integrity may be critical for initial behavior change
(e.g., session 10), but may be less critical once the inter-
vention has been in place for some time.
DISCUSSION
Overall, the participants demonstrated a reduction
in their respective disruptive behaviors. The greatest
reduction of disruptive behavior occurred for Kenny,
whose chair tipping decreased from a mean of 50% of
intervals during baseline to a mean of 4.6% of inter-
vals during intervention, and John, who decreased star-
ing from a mean of 66.9% of intervals during baseline
to a mean of 18.25% of intervals during intervention.
Howard demonstrated the smallest reduction of dis-
ruptive behavior, decreasing shouting from a mean of
18.15% of intervals during baseline to a mean of 5.1%
of intervals during intervention. It should be noted,
however, that shouting occurred at a somewhat lower
rate before intervention implementation.
The positive outcomes of this study are especially
important because social stories are convenient, are un-
obtrusive, and may draw on a strength many children
with autism demonstrate (i.e., adherence to rules/rou-
tines). Ethically, the least intrusive intervention that ef-
fectively changes behavior is the best choice. When
compared to alternate forms of treatment designed to
improve social behavior (e.g., discrete trial instruction,
pivotal response training, functional equivalence train-
ing, etc.), social stories clearly are less time and labor
intensive as well. However, even though the results
of the present study are very promising and previous
studies have suggested social stories may be effective
under some conditions, there are many unexplored vari-
ables that may aid or limit the effectiveness of this
intervention for some children or for some behaviors.
Like previous research, the limitations of the pre-
sent study suggest additional research is necessary be-
fore the effectiveness of social stories can be better
established and the conditions under which they are
Social Stories
effective are fully delineated. In addition, there were
several issues that arose in this study that have impli-
cations for future investigations.
A low and stable pattern of shouting was evi-
denced for Howard once the social story was imple-
mented, and 71% of data points were nonoverlapping.
Yet this reduction of disruptive behavior was not as
dramatic as was the case for Kenny and John. This may
be because his baseline level of shouting was lower and
more variable than the baseline levels of disruptive be-
haviors for Kenny and John. It may also be related to
his not reading the story independently. The importance
of independently reading a social story on the effec-
tiveness of the intervention has not been explored em-
pirically. Independently reading the story may or may
not be a critical component of the intervention.
One limitation of the current study that should be
noted was that Kenny and Howard were both 7-year-
old males and were students in the same classroom.
Thus it is unknown whether the social stories would
have had the same effect if these two students were in
different classrooms or had different teachers. Howard
had the opportunity to hear Kenny read his social story
every morning. In addition, data for Howard were less
impressive than data for the other participants; there-
fore it is possible that simply hearing the social story
for Kenny every morning produced some impact on
Howard’s target behavior. However, the social story
created for Kenny targeted a completely different be-
havior (i.e., chair tipping), making it unlikely that
Kenny’s social story reduced Howard’s disruptive be-
havior (i.e., shouting).
A second possible threat to the internal validity of
the study was that another intervention was already in
place for one of the participants. John was engaged in
an academic intervention that focused on improving on-
task behavior. However, this intervention was imple-
mented well before the social story intervention was
administered and was in place throughout the study. No
changes in the academic intervention occurred in rela-
tion to the phase change for John. Thus, although in-
creasing on-task behavior may have proved helpful for
the current study because John avoided reading the so-
cial story for only brief periods of time (e.g., 5 min),
it seems unlikely this intervention significantly or sys-
tematically influenced his staring at females.
Although verbal prompts were not planned as a
component of this study, teachers were observed on oc-
casion to refer to the social story in part or in its en-
tirety. For example, Kenny’s teacher held up the book
during session five and verbally prompted him not to
tip his chair by saying, “Remember all four legs should
541
touch the floor.” During the next observation, no in-
stances of chair tipping occurred. It is impossibly to
know if the verbal prompt influenced Kenny’s behavior
or if Kenny’s chair tipping would have been reduced
without the prompt.
In addition, John’s teacher was observed on one
occasion to verbally prompt him by saying, “Remem-
ber 2 seconds.” This occurred on session 12, where star-
ing occurred for 3% of the intervals. However, staring
increased to 16% of the intervals on the next data point,
again making it unclear if the verbal prompts played a
role in reducing behavior on at least one occasion.
Given the observers were in the classroom only
during data collection periods, the extent to which the
teachers and /or teacher’s aide used verbal prompts can-
not be known. Therefore, even though there was no
planned intervention beyond daily readings of the so-
cial story, some level of prompting occurred, limiting
the confidence that can be placed in using social sto-
ries in isolation. Fortunately, the unplanned prompts
provided by the teachers in the present study were di-
rectly related to the intervention (i.e., the social story)
and were not a associated with some other systematic
behavioral intervention unrelated to the story (i.e.,
token economy).
Overcoming the issue of teachers providing prompts
that are not a part of a research protocol may prove some-
what difficult in future studies examining social stories
in the natural environment. Teachers may be accustomed
to providing different levels of prompts to aid skill ac-
quisition or maintenance. Therefore, future investigators
may need to have more control over the experimental
environment by providing the intervention in an ana-
logue environment; however, this would reduce the eco-
logical validity of such a study. Conversely, teachers
may be better able to monitor the prompts they provide
by systematically introducing and excluding prompts in
different phase changes. In this way, the additive effec-
tive of social stories with prompts may be assessed.
This study establishes the effectiveness of social
stories when they have been constructed within the
guidelines established by Gray (1998). Gray developed
these guidelines based on reason and experience, and
they have not been submitted to experimental investi-
gation. Establishing the effectiveness of social story in-
terventions using the guidelines is the first step in
assessing the utility of this technique. However, future
research may need to systematically evaluate each
guideline Gray has forwarded because certain “rules”
for developing the stories may be critical and others
may be irrelevant. Identification of the features of a so-
cial story that are associated with the most positive out-
542
come could help mental health and educational pro-
fessionals as well as parents develop stories that will
produce the best outcomes.
In conclusion, the present study replicated and ex-
tended the literature by demonstrating that properly
constructed social stories may decrease the disruptive
behaviors of some children with autism and that social
stories may be used without planned systematic be-
havioral interventions such as token economies. How-
ever, future research is necessary to further validate the
effectiveness of this intervention with and without
planned prompts using rigorous experimental designs.
In addition, the specific guidelines that are associated
with positive outcomes should also be examined to aid
in social story development in practice. Finally, the im-
portance of treatment integrity and the length of inter-
vention implementation on long-term behavior change
must be examined.
APPENDIX: SOCIAL STORIES FOR KENNY,
JOHN, AND HOWARD
Kenny: Keeping Safe in My Seat
When I sit in a chair, all four leg of the chair should
touch the floor. If only one or two legs touch the floor,
my chair can tip over. Tipping my chair can make me
fall. If I fall, I can get hurt. Tipping my chair can make
my teachers sad or mad. I do not like it when my teach-
ers are sad or mad. I will try not to tip my chair. I will
try to sit in my chair with all four legs touching the floor.
My teachers will be happy if I sit in my chair with all
four legs touching the floor. Then I will be safe.
Comprehension Questions:
(1) When I sit in the chair, should I keep all four
legs of the chair on the floor?
(2) Where should all four legs of the chair be?
(3) If only one or two legs of the chair touch the
floor, what will happen?
John: It’s OK to Look at Girls
There are lots of girls at school. Sometimes I see
girls in my classroom. Sometimes I see girls in the hall-
ways. Sometimes I see girls at pep rallys. Sometimes I
see girls at recess. It’s OK to look at girls. When I look
at a girl for a long time, she may get mad or sad. When
I look at a girl, I will count slowly to two and then I will
try to look at something else. I should try to look at some-
Scattone, Wilczynski, Edwards, and Rabian
thing else until I slowly count to ten. After I slowly count
to ten, I can look at the girl again if I want to.
Comprehension Questions:
(1) Is it OK to look at girls?
(2) How long should look at a girl for?
(3) When I look away, what should I count to?
Howard: Why I Should Not Holler
When Miss Anne helps us with math, the children
usually do not holler. When children need Miss Anne’s
help, they usually ask for help in a quiet voice. When
children ask Miss Anne for help, they usually say
“Help please” or “I need help” in a quiet voice. When
Miss Anne helps us with math, I will try not to holler.
When I want Miss Anne’s help, I will say “Help
please” or “I need help.” Miss Anne will usually help
me if I ask for help. Miss Anne will be happy if I do
not holler.
Comprehension Questions:
(1) What do the children do when they need Miss
Anne’s help?
(2) What should I do when I need Miss Anne’s
help?
(3) Will Miss Anne be happy if I ask for help?
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Warmest thanks to Katie Nichols, Melanie DuBard,
and Dannell Speights for their assistance with data
collection and to the teachers, parents, and children who
participated in this project for their assistance and
support.
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