This article briefly describes how a social story helped a young boy diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome to improve his behavior during lunchtime.
The student in this case study was very sensitive to particular sounds, had problems with social interaction, and was easily distracted by visual input. During lunchtime, he would not go into the cafeteria to eat lunch with the other students. After observing him in the situation, the author interviewed the student and recorded his perceptions of the situation. He drew a picture showing himself sitting in the lunchroom with animals who ate politely, and he mentioned that a nice lunchtime is âpeace and quiet.â This interview set the tone of the social story, which the author wrote using the boyâs perspective. In the story, it is made clear that during lunch many children can talk at the same time, but if they are too loud, the student can ask a grownup to tell them to quiet down. The story also mentions that some children can be impolite and show their food when they are eating, a behavior that had previously bothered the student. The story prompts the student to try to not worry about the behavior of these other children. As soon as the first reading of the story, the boyâs behavior changed and he was able to eat his lunch in the lunchroom. The story was continued over 12 weeks, but at that point the student himself noticed that he didn't need the story anymore.
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