Video modeling is a research-based intervention used to teach play skills to children with autism. While children learn to imitate the play behaviors seen in the video, increases in play behaviors different from the video were not apparent. The current study examined the use of video modeling and video modeling with an added lag schedule of reinforcement, on increasing toy play of five children with autism in their homes. During video modeling, the children watched a short video portraying a person playing with toy figurines. Then, they were given the toys and instructed to play independently for 5-min. During the video model with lag schedule reinforcement, praise and preferred snacks were provided when his or her toy play was different from immediately preceding responses during the play session. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline across participants design was used to examine the effects. Overall results indicated that the children learned scripted toy play and increased in levels of varied play, but did not increase significantly nor decrease in levels of unscripted toy play from baseline. Even with the additional reinforcement, the children’s play did not increase in levels of varied play, scripted or unscripted play behaviors for four of five participants. Social validity of the child’s play outcomes and the perceived ease of use of the intervention were assessed using questionnaires filled out by parents and behavioral therapists. Discussion, limitations, and implications for future research are presented. / text

Direct-care staff working with individuals with developmental disabilities (DD) are frequently exposed to challenging behavior from residents and expected to respond correctly to challenging resident behavior, but often receive insufficient training due to lack of resources and high staff turnover (e.g., Collins, 2012; Collins, Higbee, & Salzberg, 2009; Haberlin, Beauchamp, Agnew, & O’Brien, 2009; Pelletier, McNamara, Braga-Kenyon, & Ahearn, 2010). Training methods such as Behavioral Skills Training (BST) are highly intrusive and require high amounts of resources (e.g., Parsens, Rollyson, & Reid, 2012). Research suggests technological based alternatives are more cost effective, decreases training time and response effort from management, and increases distance learning opportunities and dissemination capabilities. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of a hierarchical training model that incorporated video modeling, video modeling+assessment, and BST to train behavior management strategies for direct-care staff working with adults with developmental disabilities. Subjects were exposed to the most cost effective training approach first (i.e., video model) and sequentially moved to more intrusive methods (i.e., video model+assessment, & BST) as needed. All subjects implemented behavior management strategies with fidelity after exposure to technological based training alternatives (i.e., video model, video mdoel+assessment).

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Observational learning (OL) occurs when an individual contacts reinforcement as a direct result of discriminating the observed consequences of other individuals' responses. Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may have deficits in observational learning and previous research has demonstrated that teaching a series of prerequisite skills (i.e., attending, imitation, delayed imitation, and consequence discrimination) can result in observational learning. We sequentially taught these prerequisite skills for three young children with ASD across three play-based tasks. We assessed the direct and indirect effects of training by assessing OL before and after instruction across tasks and task variations (for two participants) during both in-vivo and video-model probes using a concurrent multiple-probe design. All participants acquired the prerequisite skills and demonstrated observational learning during probes of directly-trained tasks. Generalization results varied across participants. Observational learning generalized to one untrained task for one participant. For the other two participants, observational learning generalized to variations of the trained tasks but not to untrained tasks. Generalization additionally occurred during the in-vivo probes for both participants for whom we assessed this response. Implications of these findings, as well as directions for future research, are discussed.

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effectiveness of using a video model, graduated exposure (i.e., touch, smell, try, eat), and positive reinforcement to first increase food exploration, and then increase consumption of non-preferred foods in young children that exhibit food selectivity in a school setting. A multiple probe design across behaviors replicated across participants was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a treatment package. The treatment package consisted of a video model of each target behavior (touch, smell, try, eat) and positive reinforcement which included preferred foods and materials. The results indicated that the treatment package was effective in increasing the food exploration and consumption of non-preferred foods for one participant, and was inconclusive for the second participant.