What is the Proof? A Methodological Review of Studies That Have Utilized Social Stories

Social stories are a commonly empirically evaluated and implemented procedure to increase pro-social behaviors and decrease aberrant behaviors for individuals diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. Despite their widespread use there have been questions raised to the soundness of the research methodology and the results which have been demonstrated within these research studies. This paper is a methodological review of 41 studies that evaluated social stories for individuals diagnosed with autism. We classified each study as one that utilized either a case study design, a reversal design, or a multiple baseline design. After classification we evaluated each study across multiple methodological dimensions and used this analysis to determine if a study showed either a clear demonstration, partial demonstration, or if there was no clear demonstration that the social story was responsible for behavior change. Results of this analysis indicated that the majority of studies either showed only a partial demonstration or no clear demonstration that the social story procedure was responsible for the behavior change. Based upon this analysis recommendations for clinicians and future researchers are discussed.