Procedures and compliance of a video modeling applied behavior analysis intervention for Brazilian parents of children with autism spectrum disorders.
Phone-based video modeling gets seven out of ten Brazilian parents to use ABA skills at home.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Researchers in Brazil tested a cheap video modeling program for parents of preschoolers with autism. They split the families into two groups. One group got short training videos on their phones. The other group waited.
Parents watched clips that showed how to prompt eye contact, play, and talk with their kids. Staff called once a week to check progress. The study ran for eight weeks.
What they found
Seven out of ten parents used the skills well or pretty well. Only three parents skipped most tasks. No family dropped out.
Kids in the video group made small gains in talking and eye contact. The wait-list group stayed the same.
How this fits with other research
Macpherson et al. (2015) also used video modeling, but they handed kids an iPad mid-kickball game. Their videos taught peers to give compliments. Both studies show the same tool can teach parents or kids.
Brandi Gomes Godoy et al. (2024) asked Brazilian parents what they thought of a fancier program called PACT. Parents liked it, but they wanted shorter, cheaper options. Strang et al. (2017) fills that gap with phone videos.
Cappadocia et al. (2012) ran a parent-training RCT years earlier. They proved parent coaching works. The new study swaps live lessons for low-cost clips and still keeps parents engaged.
Why it matters
You can copy this model tomorrow. Record yourself doing three daily routines: rolling a car back and forth, waiting for eye contact before handing over a snack, and naming toys. Text the clips to the family. Ask them to send you a 30-second video reply each night. You just cut travel time and still hit a large share parent use.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Video modeling using applied behavior analysis techniques is one of the most promising and cost-effective ways to improve social skills for parents with autism spectrum disorder children. The main objectives were: (1) To elaborate/describe videos to improve eye contact and joint attention, and to decrease disruptive behaviors of autism spectrum disorder children, (2) to describe a low-cost parental training intervention, and (3) to assess participant's compliance. This is a descriptive study of a clinical trial for autism spectrum disorder children. The parental training intervention was delivered over 22 weeks based on video modeling. Parents with at least 8 years of schooling with an autism spectrum disorder child between 3 and 6 years old with an IQ lower than 70 were invited to participate. A total of 67 parents fulfilled the study criteria and were randomized into two groups: 34 as the intervention and 33 as controls. In all, 14 videos were recorded covering management of disruptive behaviors, prompting hierarchy, preference assessment, and acquisition of better eye contact and joint attention. Compliance varied as follows: good 32.4%, reasonable 38.2%, low 5.9%, and 23.5% with no compliance. Video modeling parental training seems a promising, feasible, and low-cost way to deliver care for children with autism spectrum disorder, particularly for populations with scarce treatment resources.
Autism : the international journal of research and practice, 2017 · doi:10.1177/1362361316677718