Native Children's Stories on the Socio-Communicative Skills of Children with High-Performing Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an umbrella term used to cover diagnosis across the spectrum, including autism, high–functioning autism, and Asperger syndrome. ASD is growing dramatically worldwide although the present rates of approximately 60 cases per 10000 children. ASD suggests striking gender differences, with a male: female ratio estimated at 3–4:1; it usually appears by the age of 3 years. Some researchers have stated that children with ASD often have relatively healthy development during the first 12–24 months of life; then, after a period of regression, the full syndrome is evident. According to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–V), individuals with ASD present repetitive behavioral patterns and impairment in communication skills from early childhood on. The deficits in social communication and the presence of restricted interests and repetitive behaviors result in lifelong impairments and disability. The main ASD symptoms affect socialization, communication, and behavior. Communication and social behaviors are typically impaired early and are among the first signs that something is amiss, as reported by parents. A Social Story™ is a child–friendly intervention, i.e., used for children with ASDs and consists of social information concerning situations where they have social difficulties. Limited evidence mainly suggests that problematic behavior could be reduced in this population. Deficiencies in social and communication skills should be considered as a major obstacle to the development of individuals with high–performance autism for participation in social settings and applying social facilities. Given the importance of this issue, it is essential to use approaches that could help individuals with autism to overcome this defect. The current study aimed to determine the effects of an educational package based on native children’s stories on improving the socio–communicative skills of children with high–performance ASDs.

This was a descriptive and quasi–experimental study with a pretest–posttest–follow–up and a control group design. The study population included 6– to 12–year–old children with high–performance ASDs at Mehrearya Rehabilitation Center in Karaj City, Iran, in the academic year of 2018–2019. Of them, 24 subjects were selected using a purposive sampling method. Then, they were randomly divided into two experimental and control groups. For conducting the pretest and posttest, the profile of the Autism Social Skills Profile (Bellini & Hopf, 2007) was completed. Accordingly, 12 sessions of social training stories were provided to the experimental group. Moreover, the obtained data were analyzed employing the repeated–measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) in SPSS at p<0.05.

In the present study, providing the native social stories training package increased the mean±SD scores of socio–communicative skills in the experimental group at the posttest phase (96.42±12.10), compared to the pretest phase (90.17±12.56) (p<0.001). The obtained data also indicated that the effectiveness of the native social stories training package on social–communication skills was sustained at the two–month follow–up step (p<0.001).

The intervention of native children’s stories facilitated childrenchr('39')s verbal interactions with one another in social situations; thus, it is an effective method to enhance the abilities and social and communicative skills of children with high–functioning ASDs. Accordingly, therapists active in the field of autism management are recommended to implement this approach in the treatment, education, and improvement of the socio–communicative skills of this group.