Social Stories™ and Autism: a Literature Review

ABSTRACT:

Social Stories™ are short, self-paced stories that can be used to help people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) interpret and understand difficult, confusing or new social situations. They are used to describe situations in which an individual may have difficulty identifying relevant social cues or expected behaviors, and they serve to understand the consequences of behaving in different ways. Tus, the aim of this study was to examine articles on Social Stories to determine the strengths and weaknesses of research that explored the use of this intervention for individuals with ASD. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 11 articles were selected. It was observed, after analysis, that, despite not being an intervention with many publications in Brazil, its effectiveness is demonstrated in works published around the world, and can be applied in the Brazilian school and clinical contexts. The results indicated relevant changes in behavior for participants with ASD of different ages and in different environments, but a single behavior at a time is the target of the intervention.

KEYWORDS:
Special Education; Social Story; Autism