Social Narrative Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder
Summary
Social narrative interventions are structured, personalised stories designed to convey social information and expectations in a clear, concrete manner for individuals on the autism spectrum. Originating from Carol Gray’s Social Stories framework, these narratives describe specific situations, articulate social cues and outline desired responses in a series of short, explicit statements. They can be delivered by parents, practitioners or educators and are increasingly adapted through digital platforms to enhance engagement and procedural integrity. Empirical studies have demonstrated that social narratives can reduce anxiety around transitions, support the acquisition of social skills and promote self-management when tailored to individual strengths and communication profiles. Despite promising outcomes, research has highlighted variability in implementation fidelity, outcome measures and generalisation of skills across settings. Advances in digital mediation and theoretical refinements—such as strengths-based, rule-based accounts—have sought to address these challenges, underlining the global relevance of social narrative interventions in supporting the diverse needs of autistic individuals.
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Social Narrative Interventions for Autism Spectrum Disorder publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in social narrative interventions for autism spectrum disorder across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Social Stories: Short, personalised narratives that describe social situations, appropriate responses and expected outcomes to support understanding and behaviour in autistic individuals.
Procedural Integrity: The degree to which an intervention is implemented as intended, encompassing fidelity to development guidelines and delivery protocols.
Digital Mediation: The use of technological platforms or applications to develop, deliver and track social narrative interventions, enhancing accessibility and data collection.
Socio-Emotional Goals: Personalised targets related to social interaction, emotional regulation or understanding that are established within narrative interventions to guide progress and evaluation.
References
- Supporting autistic communities through parent-led and child/young person-led digital social story interventions: an exploratory study. Frontiers in Digital Health (2024).
- Autism Spectrum Social Stories in Schools Trial 2 (ASSSIST‐2): a pragmatic randomised controlled trial of the Social Stories™ intervention to address the social and emotional health of autistic children in UK primary schools. Child and Adolescent Mental Health (2024).
- Autism Spectrum Disorder and Social Story Research: a Scoping Study of Published, Peer-Reviewed Literature Reviews. Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders (2021).
- A rule-based theoretical account of social stories to address the double empathy problem. Frontiers in Psychology (2023).
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