Using digital social stories to improve social skills in children with autism: a pilot experimental single-subject study
ISSN: 2056-3868
Article publication date: 19 August 2021
Issue publication date: 2 June 2022
Abstract
Purpose
Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) face difficulty with educational attainment because of to their inability to interact with others. One intervention that is used to increase social skills in individuals with ASD is social stories. This study aimed at exploring the impact of digital social stories in improving social skills of two students with ASD in the UAE.
Design/methodology/approach
An experimental AB single-subject study was conducted to investigate the impact of digital social stories on nonverbal communication, targeting two specific behaviors: raising hands before leaving one’s seat (TB1) and playing and sharing toys with peers (TB2). Two digital social stories (DSS1 and DSS2) were developed for the purpose of this study and transformed using a digital platform to be displayed on an iPad (tablet).
Findings
This study involved two male participants with ASD (10 and 11 years old). Participant one demonstrated improvement in TB1 (mean of 1.11) because of DSS1 in the intervention phase. Participant two demonstrated improvement of 18% in TB2 ( mean of 0.18) as a result of DSS2 in the intervention phase.
Practical implications
Both students that participated in the study showed a positive change in their target behaviors during the intervention phase intervention at different levels. Using an ABA study design would have been stronger in establishing a more valid causal relation in this single-subject design study. However, due the COVID-19 closures and curfews, the researchers had to switch to the AB design.
Originality/value
This study demonstrated how social stories had a positive impact on ASD social skills. Further, it indicated the potential effectiveness of using digital social stories to reduce undesirable behaviors or increase a desirable behaviors in children who have ASD.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the College of Education at UAEU for providing financial support for an MA student to develop the two digital social stories in Arabic that were used in this study.
Citation
Safi, M.F., Alnuaimi, M. and Sartawi, A. (2022), "Using digital social stories to improve social skills in children with autism: a pilot experimental single-subject study", Advances in Autism, Vol. 8 No. 3, pp. 243-251. https://doi.org/10.1108/AIA-02-2021-0013
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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