Objectives: This review of current Social Stories™ research aims to synthesize results from studies with any experimental design and to summarize characteristics of research reporting.
Methods: Reports of Social Stories™ interventions published between 1993 and 2009 were identified via comprehensive pearl growing. Characteristics of intervention procedures (e.g., assessment of comprehension), experimental methods (e.g., study design), and research reporting (e.g., description of participants) were coded. Intervention efficacy was summarized using common graphical-data overlap metrics (i.e., PND and PEM) and those that were developed recently for comparison with standard effect sizes (i.e., PAND and NAP).
Results: Empirical investigations included 6 controlled trials and 39 studies that used a single-case experimental design. Among all single-case evaluations, 13 studies reported detailed characteristics of each participant (e.g., standardized assessment information) and 20 studies included three or more demonstrations of experimental effect (e.g., across participants, across behaviors). Although 29 investigations used other techniques (e.g., differential reinforcement) as part of a Social Stories™ strategy, recent reports describe specific evaluation of Social Stories™ or evaluation of specific intervention components. For each metric, relatively high efficacy was found for interventions used to reduce problem behaviors and those used in combination with other treatment techniques; however, overall efficacy differed significantly among several metrics (41.2 PAND, 47.2 NAP, 65.6 PND, 72.5 PEM). The PND results are consistent with prior findings of questionable intervention efficacy.
Conclusions: Methods-oriented review of Social Stories™ research shows increasing interest in specific intervention studies. The divergence of efficacy metrics supports ongoing efforts to improve methods of single-case meta-analysis. Other targets for scientific research include the format and text of intervention materials.