Dental stories for children with autism.

Purpose: To investigate caregivers' preference regarding dental stories to prepare children with autism for dental visits.

Methods: Caregivers of children with autism were allowed use of dental stories available via different media (paper, tablet computer, computer) and image types (comics or drawings, photographs, video). Caregivers completed pre- and postintervention surveys. Fisher's exact tests were used to determine associations between predictive factors and preferences.

Results: Forty initial and 16 follow-up surveys were completed. Subjects were primarily male (85%). Mean child age was 6.7 years. Nine (64%) caregivers found the dental story useful for themselves and their child. Two (14%) caregivers found the aid only helpful for themselves. Preferred media type was associated with language understanding (p = .038) and home media preference (p = .002).

Conclusions: Practitioners should consider using dental stories to help prepare families and children for dental visits. Individual preferences for dental stories vary; using prior history can aid in selection.