Abstract:

While individuals with typical development can spontaneously learn various social skills, including safety skills, individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) need systematic training in acquiring these skills.

In this study,the effectiveness and maintenance of the social story method in teaching online sexual abuse protection skills, which is one of the safety skills, to individuals with ASD in adolescence were evaluated.

One female and three male individuals with ASD, aged between 13-15, participated in the study.

The research was conducted with a nonconcurrent multiple baseline model between participants, one of the single-subject research models.

Individuals participating in the research learned to protect themselves from online sexual abuse and generalized these skills to different types of abuse and different online environments.

Three, five, and eight weeks after the research was completed, the skills learned maintained.

Social validity data were collected from the families of the individuals participating in the study and experts working with ASD.
Families and experts of individuals with ASD gave positive opinions about the study.

Keywords:

Autism spectrum disorder, Safety skills, Sexual abuse, Online sexual abuse, Social stories.