Technology and Social Narratives

Social narratives don’t have to be read to a student from a printed page. With increases in technology, multimedia social stories are becoming more popular. Since many individuals with autism are interested in technology, such as computers and tablets, these may be great ways to show a social story to a student with autism. I’ve read social narratives to my students from laptop computers, tablet computers, and even my smartphone. They almost always seem to be very attentive to stories presented to them in one of these ways. All of Positively Autism’s social stories are either in PowerPoint or PDF format and can be shown to a student on a portable electronic device.

Researchers have also begun to investigate the use of multimedia social stories. Here are a few studies:

Ozdemir, S., Universitesi, G., Fakultesi, G. E., Bolumu, O. E. (2008). Using multimedia social stories to increase appropriate social engagement in young children with autism. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, Volume 7, Issue 3.

Sansosti, F. J. & Powell-Smith, K. A. (2008). Using computer-presented social stories and video models to increase the social communication skills of children with high-functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions, Volume 10, Issue 3.

Smith Myles, B. & Hagiwara, T. (1999). A multimedia social story intervention: Teaching skills to children with autism. Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities, Volume 14, Issue 2.