effect of social stories and peer video modeling to increase social pragmatics in children with autism

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/d20000645

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the use of social stories alone and social stories combined with peer video modeling to teach social pragmatic skills including eye contact, conventional gestures, and appropriate verbalizations to two young children with autism. First, social stories were used alone. The participant read a story designed for a specific behavior to be targeted. Then, social stories were combined with peer video modeling. A video displaying the specific behavior was viewed followed by the social story. Mastery criteria were met when social stories were combined with video modeling for eye contact. In the context of conventional gestures, mastery criteria were met when social stories were presented alone. During baseline, mastery criteria were met for appropriate verbalizations. These findings suggest that social stories alone as well as social stories combined with video modeling, were effective tools for teaching social pragmatic skills.