The Study of Storytelling Effectiveness on Social Interaction of Boys with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Background and Objective: Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex neurological disorder that leads to the loss of social interactions. It is reported that storytelling provides templates for communication, behavior skills and the proper way of communication in diverse states with different people for autistic children.  This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of storytelling on the social interaction of boys with ASD. Materials and Methods: This Quasi-experimental study with a pre and post-test were designed for this project. Elementary school students diagnosed with ASD in governmental and nongovernmental schools located in the city of Karaj in the year ۲۰۱۵ comprised the study population. Overall, ۲۴ students were selected by convenience sampling and were randomly assigned into two groups. The examination group was provided ۱۲۰ storytelling sessions for ۳۰ minutes and the control group received no intervention. Social interactions of the children were measured by current treatment algorithm (ADI-R (. SPSS-۱۹ software and covariance method were used for data analysis. Results: Before and after intervention the mean and standard deviation of social interaction storytelling group was ۲۸/۷۵ ±۱/۰۵۵ and ۱۹/۹۱±۲/۵۳, respectively. Conclusion: The results showed that storytelling lead to a significant increase in social interactions of children with ASD. The application of storytelling could benefit the social interactions of autistic children.

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Keywords: Autistic spectrum children , Storytelling , Social Interaction