Improving the Manners of a Student with Autism: The effects of manipulating perspective holders in Social Stories™ – A pilot study

Abstract

This pilot study investigated the impact of manipulating the value of perspective sentences on improving the manners of a student with autism spectrum disorders. Three types of perspective sentences (sentences held by unknown persons, those held by familiar persons, and those held by the most preferred person) were alternately added to a Social Story™ to determine which perspective sentences were the most effective in improving the student’s head and elbow positions during sitting at morning circle and lunch. Results indicated that the effectiveness of a Social Story™ did not seem to depend on whose perspectives the story used. Findings suggest that depicting only the perspectives of the most preferred person in the story may not be sufficiently powerful to change behaviours.