The effects of video modeling in teaching functional living skills to persons with ASD: A meta-analysis of single-case studies.

BACKGROUND: Many individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) show deficits in functional living skills, leading to low independence, limited community involvement, and poor quality of life. With development of mobile devices, utilizing video modeling has become more feasible for educators to promote functional living skills of individuals with ASD. AIMS: This article aims to review the single-case experimental literature and aggregate results across studies involving the use of video modeling to improve functional living skills of individuals with ASD. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: The authors extracted data from single-case experimental studies and evaluated them using the Tau-U effect size measure. Effects were also differentiated by categories of potential moderators and other variables, including age of participants, concomitant diagnoses, types of video modeling, and outcome measures. OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Results indicate that video modeling interventions are overall moderately effective with this population and dependent measures. While significant differences were not found between categories of moderators and other variables, effects were found to be at least moderate for most of them. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: It is apparent that more single-case experiments are needed in this area, particularly with preschool and secondary-school aged participants, participants with ASD-only and those with high-functioning ASD, and for video modeling interventions addressing community access skills.

An analysis of contingency statements in a DRO procedure: A case report.

OBJECTIVE: To examine latency to criterion for reduction of challenging behaviour with and without stating a contingency statement immediately prior to a DRO procedure. METHOD: An ABAC design in which A was baseline, B was used to evaluate the efficacy of a DRO procedure, and C was used to evaluate the efficacy of a DRO procedure with a contingency statement. RESULTS: The DRO with the contingency statement intervention was associated with a shorter latency to behaviour change than the DRO procedure without the contingency statement. DISCUSSION: These preliminary findings from this case study highlight the importance of examining the efficiency of behaviour change procedures. Directions for future research are provided.

Interaction of participant characteristics and type of AAC with individuals with ASD: a meta-analysis.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and complex communication needs often rely on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) as a means of functional communication. This meta-analysis investigated how individual characteristics moderate effectiveness of three types of aided AAC: the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS), speech-generating devices (SGDs), and other picture-based AAC. Effectiveness was measured via the Improvement Rate Difference. Results indicated that AAC has small to moderate effects on speech outcomes, and that SGDs appear to be most effective when considering any outcome measure with individuals with ASD without comorbid intellectual/developmental disorders (IDD). PECS appears to be most effective when considering any outcome measure with individuals with ASD and IDD. SGDs and PECS were the most effective type of AAC for preschoolers, when aggregating across outcome measures. No difference was found between systems for elementary-aged and older individuals.

Effects of video modeling on communicative social skills of college students with Asperger syndrome.

INTRODUCTION: Empirical support regarding effective interventions for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) within a postsecondary community is limited. Video modeling, an empirically supported intervention for children and adolescents with ASD, may prove effective in addressing the needs of individuals with ASD in higher education. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluated the effects of video modeling without additional treatment components to improve social-communicative skills, specifically, eye contact, facial expression, and conversational turntaking in college students with ASD. METHOD: This study utilized a multiple baseline single-case design across behaviors for two post-secondary students with ASD to evaluate the effects of the video modeling intervention. RESULTS: Large effect sizes and statistically significant change across all targeted skills for one participant and eye contact and turntaking for the other participant were obtained. CONCLUSION: The use of video modeling without additional intervention may increase the social skills of post-secondary students with ASD. Implications for future research are discussed.