Association for Behavior Analysis International

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of an intervention package that combined Skillstreaming procedures for the development of social skills with the use of video modeling for middle school students identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The Skillstreaming procedures in the research package include: (a) introduce the target social skill behavior; (b) model the skill; (c) discuss/review the components of target social skills with visual cards; (d) practice/role model; (e) provide feedback and; (g) present visual and oral prompt. A multiple-probe design across participants was employed to assess the effects of the video modeling intervention package on two beginning social skills (i.e., initiate greetings and initiate a conversation). Participants included three middle school-aged students diagnosed with ASD, enrolled in a self-contained classroom, at an urban middle school. The results of this research indicated that all three students improved their social skills performance following the implementation of the video modeling intervention package. Furthermore, during the maintenance phase, the social skills performance of each student was maintained. The research design, resutls and recommendations for further study for teachers of students with ASD will be presented

Autism is defined by the triad of impairments that includes social interaction, communication and restricted behaviour. There are many interventions for improving the lives of children diagnosed with autism |Spectrum Disorder (ASD) but research has demonstrated that Applied Behaviour Analysis (ABA) is the most effective. A significant issue with autistic children is their lack of variation of interests and obsessions in activities or play. However, due to this potentially limited and narrow ranges of interest in activities for children with ASD, this may make it difficult for professionals working with them to identify potential reinforcers to increase their educational and social opportunities. The study investigated how to expand otherwise fixated interests in children with ASD using a multiple baseline design. This was done by using: ? Conditioning: In which the highest preferred item is conditioned with the lowest. ? Video Modelling: Which entailed watching typical developing children playing with the lowest preferred item in different ways. Participants consisted of seven children, between the ages of three and six years, with varying levels of severity along the spectrum, all currently enrolled in early intervention services. Two types of preference assessment (PA) were used: paired stimulus (PS) which is also known as 2-choice paired stimulus and free operant (FO). PA was used to identify the hierarchy of participants preference in order of one to six and to assess if this hierarchy changes throughout the study. The results of this study showed that both conditioning and video modelling were effective at changing preferences for young children with ASD. However, the video modelling condition was superior as it helped changed preference faster and in different way.