Enhancing conversation skills in children with autism via video technology. Which is better, "self" or "other" as a model?
For autistic kids who learn visually, self-video and peer-video modeling produce equal conversation gains—choose the format that is easier to film.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Five autistic kids watched short videos to learn how to ask conversation questions.
Each child saw two kinds of clips: one with himself asking questions, one with another child asking.
The team alternated the videos every day and counted how many correct questions the child asked a new adult.
What they found
Three kids hit a large share correct questions after either video type.
The other two kids improved the same amount with both videos.
Self-model and peer-model worked at the same speed—no winner.
How this fits with other research
Bailey et al. (2010) also found no learning gap, but they compared video to live adults instead of self vs. other.
Petry et al. (2007) pushed the idea further—video modeling taught longer social play chains and the gains lasted months.
Lancioni et al. (2000) gives a warning: modeling alone failed until kids had to describe the scene out loud first.
Why it matters
You can stop worrying about filming the child himself; a classmate video works just as fast. Pick whichever clip is easier to make that week. If you want the skill to stick, add a quick “tell me what you saw” step before practice.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study was designed to compare the efficacy of "self" versus "other" video-modeling interventions. Five children with autism ranging in age from 4 to 11 were taught to answer a series of conversation questions in both self and other video-modeled conditions. Results were evaluated using a combination of a multiple baseline and alternating treatments design. Three out of the five participants performed at levels of 100% accuracy at posttreatment. Results indicated no overall difference in rate of task acquisition between the two conditions, implying that children who were successful at learning from video in general, learned equally as well via both treatment approaches. Anecdotal evidence suggested that participants who were successful with video treatment had higher visual learning skills than children who were unsuccessful with this approach. Results are discussed in terms of a visual learning model for children with autism.
Behavior modification, 2001 · doi:10.1177/0145445501251008