Effectiveness of digitalized social stories in teaching earthquake safety skills to individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This study aims to determine whether the social stories presented digitally are effective in facilitating individuals with autism spectrum disorder to acquire the skills necessary to apply the "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" technique for earthquake safety, evacuate buildings safely, generalize these skills to a different setting, and sustain them over time. The study participants were three students with autism spectrum disorder attending a special education class at the primary school level. To assess the efficacy of the digitalized social stories in facilitating participants' acquisition of the ability to apply the "Drop, Cover and Hold on" technique, an essential earthquake safety skill, and to evacuate building safely, the multiple probe model across participants was employed as one of the single-subject research methodologies. The intervention was completed in five phases: baseline, instruction and fading, probe, follow-up, and generalization sessions. The data were collected using data collection tools prepared with the skill analysis recording technique. The study found that the digitalized social stories effectively assisted all participants in acquiring the skill of applying the "Drop, Cover, and Hold On" technique for earthquake safety and safely evacuating building. Additionally, it facilitated the generalization of this skill to a different setting and its maintenance during follow-up sessions conducted in the 1st, 3rd, and 5th weeks after completing the instruction. According to the social comparison data, participants performed less than the norm group before the study. However, during the intervention sessions, their performance approached that of the norm group, and during the follow-up sessions, they outperformed the norm group.