The Teeth Brushing Practices with the Storybook Pictures for the Students with Autism

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the teeth brushing practices for the students with autism, and 2) to compare teeth brushing skills of students with autism, between pretest and posttest (before and after using the storybook pictures). The target group consisted of 3 students with autism. The ages were ranged between 7-8 years of age.  This research was an experimental research.  The experimenters administered both of the experiment and case study. The research instruments were:  1) Six teeth brushing plans for students with autism,  2) The storybook with pictures titled  “I like to brush my teeth,” “I brush my teeth myself,” and “I brush my teeth every day,” and  3) The behavioral observational form for students with autism.  The teeth brushing practice activities were implemented for 12 weeks.  The data after teaching were recorded.  In addition, the findings of teeth brushing activities by using the storybook pictures were concluded every hour.  Data were analyzed and presented by basic statistic, percentage, and descriptive form.
The research findings were found that: 
1. The teeth brushing ability by using storybook pictures of all 3 students with autism, showed that the students with autism obtained higher posttest scores.
2. The findings of comparison between teeth brushing ability by using storybook with pictures of all 3 students with autism, between pretest and posttest were found that their posttest scores were higher as follows:  the first student 38.33%/71.66%, the second student 45.00%/80.00%, and the third student 60.00%/91.60%. Therefore, the storybook with pictures could enhance teeth brushing ability of every student with autism.