Training Parents to Create and Implement Social Stories™: Promoting Social Competence in Children Without Disabilities

• Author: Shelee‐Ann Flemmings,Robin Millar,Angel L. Gullón‐Rivera
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/fare.12374
• Date: 01 October 2019
• Published date: 01 October 2019

A L. G-R, R M,  S-A F Western Michigan

University

Training Parents to Create and Implement Social

Stories™: Promoting Social Competence in

Children Without Disabilities

Objective: To examine the feasibility and bene-

ts of a parent training on using Social Stories™

(SS).

Background: SS have been widely used as an

effective approach to help children improve

social understanding, particularly in children

with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). How-

ever, efforts to train parents to use SS have been

limited, particularly with children without ASD

displaying behavioral challenges.

Method: SS training and implementation were

rooted in the guidelines established by the devel-

oper of SS, Carol Gray.A convenience sample of

19 children and their parents participated in the

study, using a single-case design (ABAB) with

each family.

Results: The results provide evidence that par-

ents can be effectively coached on the creation

and implementation of SS. The results indicated

that using SS reduced disruptive behaviors and

increased constructive social skills in 15 of the

19 cases tested (79%).

Conclusion: The study provides support for the

benets of teaching parents SS to address spe-

cic challenging behaviors. Although more work

Family & Consumer Sciences, WesternMichigan University,

1903 West Michigan Avenue, Kalamazoo, MI 49008-5322

(angel.gullon-rivera@wmich.edu).

Key Words: family practitioners, narrative approach, par-

ent training, social competence, social stories, social under-

standing, typically developing children.

needs to be done, these ndings add to the dis-

cussion on the feasibility of SS with children

without ASD.

Implications: The ndings provide fur-

ther support for a link between addressing

perspective-taking skills and behavioral regu-

lations. Specically, the study expands existing

literature on the importance of using narrative

to help children improve social understanding.

Despite study limitations, the results indicate

that the SS approach can be useful to parents

and other caregivers for addressing immediate

challenging behaviors with children who do not

have ASD.

The literature on early childhood education

reports that challenging or disruptive behaviors

are common among children, regardless of

whether they have any documented diagnoses

or learning disabilities (Egger & Angold, 2006;

Powell, Fixsen, Dunlap, Smith, & Fox, 2007).

Rooted in the ecological and family system

frameworks (Bronfenbrenner, 1986; Bruder,

2000) is the assumption that child outcomes

are heavily inuenced by bidirectional ongo-

ing interactions within the family unit and

family-centered practices. Thus, strengthen-

ing parenting techniques is considered to be a

cornerstone for the development of children’s

social functioning (Shaw & Taraban, 2017;

Thompson, 2001).

450 Family Relations 68 (October 2019): 450–468

DOI:10.1111/fare.12374

Parent Training on Social Stories 451

Studies on parent education have revealed

that parent training and support improves child

outcomes and enhances parents’ perceptions of

children’s behavior and progress (Duncombe

et al., 2016; Iadarola et al., 2017). Teaching par-

ents about practical strategies to strengthen chil-

dren’s social competence empowers caregivers

by providing them with knowledge of valid

tools and corresponding resources to support

parenting practices (Noyes-Grosser et al., 2014).

Previous studies on parent-delivered interven-

tion training have demonstrated that parents can

be successfully coached to address children’s

social behaviors and skills (Batu, 2014; Cardon,

2012; Tarbox, Garcia, & Clair, 2016). A com-

prehensive review of previous parent-delivered

approaches for improving social skills and adap-

tive behaviors is beyond the scope of this article.

Rather, our focus is on Social Stories™ (SS),

which is among the effective coaching tech-

niques that have been widely used to teach chil-

dren social understanding. The function of SS

is to provide children accurate social informa-

tion with a reassuring tone using a story-format

that children can easily understand (Gray, 2010).

However,to date SS have largely been employed

by practitioners and professionals who work

directly with children experiencing challeng-

ing behaviors (Kokina & Kern, 2010). Build-

ing on previous studies in which the utility of

practitioner-implemented SS for children with

and without disabilities has been documented,

the present study was designed to examine the

feasibility of training parents themselves to use

SS in support of their children’s development.

B

SS was developed in 1990 as a narrative-based

approach to teach children specic concepts

or skills, and to describe appropriate interac-

tion during social encounters or situations. The

model on which SS is based emphasizes the

importance of translating to a child the core mes-

sages that underline any social interaction—that

is, translating the hidden code or implicit rules

and social expectations that guide children’s

social interaction on a daily basis (Gray, 1998).

SS are read to the child or read directly by the

child. Using a safe and supportive tone, the goal

of SS is to share factual information with the pur-

pose of increasing children’s social competence,

including, but not limited to, their understanding

of social events, appropriate behaviors, targeted

skills, or specic concepts (Gray, 2010). SS are

individualized and adhere to specic criteria. A

fundamental aspect of SS lies in the type of sen-

tences that are used: descriptive, subjective,afr-

mative, and coaching. This approach is rooted in

the premise that rather than directing children’s

behaviors, it is more important to depict actions,

implications, and the perspective of relevantoth-

ers (Gray, 2010). SS samplers can be found on

the SS website (see http://carolgraysocialstories

.com).

One conceptual framework that guides the

use of SS by practitioners is the theory of mind

(ToM), which refers to awareness of thoughts,

perceptions, and emotions in others and oneself

(Flavell, 2004; Hofmann et al., 2016). The ToM

has been used within the context of children with

autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who may be

unable to theorize about others’ minds, leading

to difculties in social interaction and expec-

tations (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985).

The rationale for using SS is based on the

premise that it will improve ToM skills, lead-

ing to enhanced behaviors and social function-

ing (Delano & Stone, 2008; Reynhout & Carter,

2011).

The efcacy of SS is well documented,

primarily for children with ASD, but it has

also been utilized by practitioners for children

without ASD (Benish & Bramlett, 2011; Delano

& Stone, 2008; Gray & Garand, 1993). Several

systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses

have been conducted to evaluate the effective-

ness of SS for children with ASD and have

documented potential practical applications

and variability of individual outcomes (Kokina

& Kern, 2010; Rhodes, 2014; Test, Richter,

Knight, & Spooner, 2011). Among SS studies

with children diagnosed with ASD, those that

have used robust single-case research designs

have reported evidence that supports the efcacy

of SS (Leaf et al., 2015). Single-case studies on

SS specic to children with ASD report that SS

have improved children’s prosocial behaviors,

such as play skills and positive peer interac-

tion (e.g., Barry & Burlew, 2004; Crozier &

Tincani, 2007), and decreased inappropriate or

disruptive behaviors (e.g., Adams, Gouvousis,

VanLue, & Waldron, 2004; Quilty, 2007; Scat-

tone, Wilczynski, Edwards, & Rabian, 2002).

In addition, regardless of outcome measures,

data from social validity instruments show that

teachers (Reynhout & Carter, 2011) and care-

givers (Hutchins & Prelock, 2013; Ivey, Hein,