Teaching helping to adolescents with autism.

Day-Watkins et al. (2014) worked with three autistic teens who rarely helped others.

The team showed each teen short videos of peers helping in different ways.

After each clip the adult gave a prompt, praise, and small treats for copying the help.

They tracked helping in real school and community spots before, during, and after training.

All three teens began helping quickly once the package started.

The teens kept helping in new places and with new tasks they had never seen.

Skills stayed strong after the videos and rewards stopped.

Honig et al. (1988) first showed that autistic kids learn from both peer and adult video models. Jessica adds helping as a new skill set and shows the same trick works for teens.

Barry et al. (2024) used the same multiple-exemplar method to teach time words. Both studies got full generalization, proving MET is a sturdy tool for autistic adolescents.

Laugeson et al. (2014) ran the 14-week PEERS class for middle-schoolers. Their social gains took months; Jessica’s package took only a few short sessions. The two do not clash—one is deep, the other is fast.

You can teach helping without a long curriculum. Record classmates helping, show the clips, prompt, and reinforce. Fade the prompts and the teen keeps helping in new places. Try it during lunch, PE, or job sites next week.