The Autism Society Event and Education Recordings Archive

Presenters will describe and explore the potential effectiveness and high motivational levels found when using video modeling training, specifically to enhance the development of expressive and receptive pragmatic language skills of children on the autism spectrum, especially as these interaction skills are generalized into a typical school setting. A review of recent and ongoing research will be used to evaluate and compare others’ results using video modeling methods. Pragmatic language evaluation methods will be discussed, starting with how best to state and prioritize goals when completing an evaluation and establishing a plan of care. The session will continue with implementation of video modeling in traditional school environments, specifically the use of pre-made videos and discussion of how to create videos. Presenters will review case studies where therapists implemented video modeling in pragmatic language therapy and the outcomes for individual students. Positive and negative components of intervention cases will be explored, as well as commentaries from parents, students and professionals who were involved. The session will continue with an outline and examples of how best to dissect videos created or used for students. Levels will be outlined in order of complexity to systematically break down the various social components of each situation. The outline and examples will expand upon using video modeling to teach social skills as follows:

Level One – Teaching vocabulary in each social scenario.

Level Two – Breaking down scenarios supported by vocabulary. Allowing students to select from choices given to demonstrate awareness of core social interactions and language.

Level Three – Determining emotions and feelings expressed and supported by vocabulary and by nonverbal and verbal language cues.

Level Four – Highlighting contextual cues in the social scenarios and learning what inferences can be made from each social situation.

Level Five – Discussing nonverbal language cues; how students can determine what characters in videos are thinking, feeling or saying by actions, intonation, prosody, etc.

Level Six – Comparing and contrasting similar video scenarios to determine the most acceptable pragmatic language and behavior in a given situation. Because social awareness is so subjective, this allows students to make a detailed analysis of the better versus the best outcome.

Level Seven – Allowing students to expand their expressive and receptive language skills to determine outcomes of social situations explored. Devise ways to use critical thinking tasks to break apart social behavior and language at very high levels.

All levels will be paired with suggested motivational reinforcing activities to engage students and maintain their focus and attention to the tasks involved. Strengths and weaknesses of different modalities of video delivery systems will be discussed and outcomes of each explored. The ability to collect data and monitor goals depending on students’ achievements will be included. Presenters will then review the application of the video modeling outline to expansion and generalization of goals addressed. Systematic use and fading of visual and auditory supports will be explained in order for students to maintain and carry over skills, learned with videos, to natural environments. Case studies will be reviewed of students who have attempted to carry over skills learned through video modeling into their everyday lives. Specific research examples to support the above-stated outline and concepts will be compared and reviewed. Finally, presenters will discuss the practical application, implementation and generalization of video modeling into traditional pragmatic therapy models, concluding with how therapists can manage time and maximize available video stimuli to best meet a caseload of students’ needs and goals.