Effectiveness of using video modeling for teaching safety skills for children with autism and other developmental disabilities

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2011-05

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Abstract

Children with disabilities including autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disabilities often need training in safety-related areas. Literature indicates that video modeling has been effective in teaching play activities, as well as social and communication skills. In addition, there are few studies where young children with developmental disabilities, including autism, have been taught safety skills. Video modeling has been shown to be effective in teaching safety skills, however to date it has not been used in teaching these skills to young children with developmental disabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using video modeling to train young children with autism spectrum disorders or developmental disabilities to walk around a 3-dimensional yellow safety marker used in many public locations. The marker indicated a wet area below the marker. Five students, between ages 5 and 6 years, watched a 2-minute video of an adult demonstrating the proper procedure for safely walking around the safety marker. After watching the video the student was prompted to walk down the hall, then reinforced for completing the task using a simple social reinforcement. An A-B design across subjects, with a generalization phase, was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention. The results indicated that the use of video modeling was effective in training young children with developmental disabilities and autism spectrum disorders to learn this safety skill. In addition, the five participants successfully generalized the new safety skill to a novel setting. Results are discussed and implications for research and practice are provided.

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