Graduate Program

School Psychology

Degree Name

Specialist in School Psychology

Semester of Degree Completion

2006

Thesis Director

Linda Leal

Thesis Committee Member

Christine McCormick

Thesis Committee Member

Marjorie Hanft-Martone

Abstract

Social stories have been deemed an effective intervention for people with autism (e.g., Richard, 2000). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the use of social stories with a participant not diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. The participant was an 8 year-old second-grade girl of average intelligence who was diagnosed with a learning disability in mathematics. Upon consulting with her classroom teacher, two social skills were identified as the target behaviors to be addressed in the present study. The first prominent behavioral concern was violation of others' personal space or standing too close to others. The second was off-task behavior and this was defined as the student looking around or playing with objects for longer than ten seconds during a class lesson or when she should be doing academic work. A social story was designed and implemented for each behavior. The problem behaviors were targeted separately during two distinct interventions using the social stories' approach suggested by Carol Gray (1991). Results indicated that violating others' space decreased during the social story intervention. Off-task behavior, however, did not decrease during the intervention from what it was at baseline. The lack of success of the second intervention is reviewed, as well as the limitations of the present study and possible directions for future research.

Download

Included in

Psychology Commons

Share

COinS