A combination of visual supports for two elementary-age boys with autism was evaluated. The visual supports were used to aid transitions from one activity to another in community and home settings. The effectiveness of the visual supports was assessed using single-subject reversal designs (ABAB). The data revealed a significant decrease in the latency between the time the students were given instructions and the time they began the next activity when the visual supports were used. Visual supports also resulted in a significant decrease in teacher-delivered verbal and physical transition prompts required for one of the students.

The purpose of this study was to determine the efficacy of a social story intervention implemented in a home setting to decrease precursors to tantrum behavior in a 5-year-old boy with autism. Using an ABAB design, two social stories were presented and withdrawn while using an event recording procedure in which interrupting verbalizations, determined to be precursors to tantrum behavior, were tallied. Data revealed a decrease in interrupting verbalizations and tantrums when the social stories were available and an increase in these behaviors when the social stories were withdrawn.Five and one-half decades have passed since Kanner (1943) originally identified social interaction, language, and communication characteristics of 11 individuals with autism.

This study provides initial evidence that clear differences exist in the sensory processing patterns of children with Asperger syndrome when compared with peers without disabilities.

This article describes the use of social-story intervention programs to teach appropriate social behavior to 3 children with autism. The procedures used in these interventions combined social-story methodology with a more traditional behavioral social-skills training strategy. Procedures and suggestions for successfully developing, implementing, and evaluating social-story intervention programs are also provided.

This study analyzed the effects of social stories in reducing precursors to tantrum behavior in two social environments, morning work time and lunchtime. The student was a 12-year-old boy diagnosed with autism, Fragile X syndrome, and intermittent explosive disorder. Using an ABAB design, two social stories were implemented and withdrawn as data were collected to determine the frequency of two behaviors, inappropriate vocalizations and dropping to the floor, which served as precursors to tantrum behavior. The data revealed a decrease in precursors to tantrum behavior when the social stories were available to the student and an increase in targeted behavior when the intervention was withdrawn.