Evaluating the Ability of the PBS Children’s Show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood to Teach Skills to Two Young Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Two preschoolers with autism watched Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood at home. No coach sat with them. After each episode the kids tried real-life tasks: tasting a new food and stopping play when mom asked. The team filmed the kids before and after to see if the cartoon alone taught the skills.

Both children started eating new foods after watching the episode about trying new things. They also stopped play nicely when mom said it was time, right after viewing the episode about finishing play. Skills showed up only after the matched show, not before.

Gena et al. (2005) and Wilson (2013) already showed that video modeling can equal live modeling for preschoolers with autism. Dotson’s team removed the teacher and still got gains, so the cartoon acts like a free video model.

Ezzeddine et al. (2020) later stretched the idea to peer play comments, proving the method moves beyond food and clean-up.

Bermúdez et al. (2020) added BST and found any short video works, even superheroes. Dotson proves you can skip the training package and still win.

You can send parents a link instead of making custom clips. Tell them to hit play on the episode that matches the skill you want that week—new foods, sharing, or stopping play. Track the child’s response; if nothing changes after two shows, switch to coached video or live modeling. Free, on-demand video modeling is now an evidence-first step.