Comparing the teaching interaction procedure to social stories for people with autism.

The team compared two ways to teach social skills to people with autism. One way was the teaching interaction procedure. The other way was reading social stories.

They used an alternating-treatments design. Each learner got both treatments. The order switched back and forth. Six participants joined the study.

Teaching interaction won by a mile. Every learner mastered all 18 skills taught with it. Only four skills were mastered with social stories.

Skills taught with teaching interaction also carried over to new places and people. Social stories did not give that bonus.

Kassardjian et al. (2014) ran the same match-up two years later. They got the same result. This gives you confidence the win is real.

Karkhaneh et al. (2010) and Kokina et al. (2010) both said social stories can help a little. Their papers looked at older studies that did not use teaching interaction. The new study shows we now have something stronger.

Leaf et al. (2020) later warned that most social-story studies have weak methods. The 2012 data backs up that warning and points you to a better choice.

Stop using social stories alone for teaching new social skills. Swap in the teaching interaction steps: describe the skill, show the skill, let the learner practice, give feedback. You can start next session with any social skill your learner still needs.