Using Video Modeling to Teach Functional Direction Following

Many children with developmental disabilities have a hard time learning skills, such as following directions, in a small group setting. Video modeling has been shown as an effective way to teach certain skills to children with autism and other developmental disabilities (Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004; Wu, Cannella-malone, Wheaton et al, 2016). Little research has been done on using video modeling to teach functional directions. Generalizing direction following skills to appropriate contexts is important for children to be successful in the many environments they encounter in a typical school setting. The purpose of this project was to teach functional direction following using peer video models. A simple baseline design was used to measure the effects of video modeling on direction following. During phase one, the videos were shown to the participant once before each trial. Phase two consisted of giving the verbal directions without the video model. During the generalization phase, the verbal direction was given to a group of two to four students in addition to the participant. The results indicated that video modeling was an effective way to teach functional directions to a child with a developmental disability. Future research may include a larger sample size and two-step directions. 3 TEACHING FUNCTIONAL DIRECTIONS USING VIDEO MODELING Using Video Modeling to Teach Functional Direction Following Many children with autism and other developmental disabilities have a hard time learning skills the same way a typically developing child would learn. One of those skills is following directions in a small group environment. Little research has been done on functional direction following, even though this skill is necessary for children to have before entering a typical preschool setting. Children with autism are acquiring the simple auditory discrimination skill they are being taught in a discrete-trial setting; however, this skill is not generalizing to other environments that are less restrictive. No research has been found on using video modeling to teach functional direction following. Video modeling has been shown as an effective way to teach certain skills to children with autism and other developmental disabilities (Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004; Wu, Cannella-malone, Wheaton, & Tullis 2016). Research has shown peer modeling to be an effective way to teach children with developmental disabilities academic skills they lack and possibly as an effective way to teach generalized social behavior (Ledford and Wolery, 2013). It is likely peer imitation is a prerequisite skill needed for video modeling to be successful, especially when the model in the video is peer. Peer modeling can be beneficial to children learning new behaviors and children modeling the behaviors. Ledford and Wolery (2013) state, “children with and without disabilities may generalize these behaviors to other contexts” which can be beneficial to both children (p. 456). Generalizing direction following skills to appropriate contexts is important for all children to be successful in the many environments they encounter in a typical school setting. Nikopoulos and Keenan (2004) studied the effects of video modeling on social initiation and reciprocal play. Social initiation was defined as “the child approaching the experimenter, emitting a vocal (e.g., “Let’s play”) or gestural (e.g., taking him by the hands) behavior, and 4 TEACHING FUNCTIONAL DIRECTIONS USING VIDEO MODELING leading him towards a toy”. In this study, children watched a video in one room and were given the opportunity to imitate the model in a different room. The video was recorded in the same room with the same toys the children would encounter. The results showed “video presentation enhanced social initiation and reciprocal play skills, which were maintained at 1and 3-month follow-ups” (Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004). Though Nikopoulos and Keenan studied how social skills were affected by video modeling, their results could generalize to direction following. Wu, Cannella-malone, and Wheaton et al. (2016) used video modeling to teach two teenage boys with developmental disabilities two activities of daily living (ADL). The ADLs, washing a table and washing a window, were taught using different prompt fading techniques. For window washing, fading took place after acquisition, for table washing, fading occurred within the intervention. Results showed that video modeling was an effective way to teach ADLs and that within session prompt fading produced better generalization and maintenance outcomes. This is another skill area that video modeling has been shown to be successful in teaching, making it possible that video modeling is also an effective way to teach direction following. There may be a prerequisite skill the participant needs for video modeling to be a successful teaching tool. MacDonald, Dickson and Aheam (2015) studied the effects of the prerequisite skill of delayed imitation on video modeling. Their results showed participants who mastered delayed imitation showed higher performance during video modeling than the participants who had not mastered delayed imitation. This may be an indicator that delayed imitation is a skill needed for video modeling to be a successful intervention for teaching children. Due to the delay from the time the video is seen to the opportunity to emit appropriate direction following behavior, it is possible that delayed imitation is a prerequisite skill. 5 TEACHING FUNCTIONAL DIRECTIONS USING VIDEO MODELING There has been no research found on using video modeling to teach functional direction following to children with autism. Research on video modeling has been limited mostly to activities of daily living and social skills (Wu, Cannella-malone, Wheaton et al, 2016; Nikopoulos & Keenan, 2004). There has also been research on possible prerequisite skills needed for video modeling to be effective (MacDonald, Dickson, & Aheam, 2015). More research needs to be done using video modeling in other areas, including functional direction following. Method Participant The child participating in this study was a 3-year-old male with a language delay. He received 15 hours a week of intensive behavior treatment and had been in the classroom for one year. At the beginning of this study, the participant was thought to be moving to a less restrictive classroom. The participant mastered the classroom basic direction procedure, but did not seem to be generalizing direction following to other directions, environments, or people. In the next classroom, the participant would encounter many directions that differed from the directions taught in the basic direction procedure which made him a good candidate for this study. Inclusionary criteria were having mastered the classroom basic direction following procedure. Design A simple baseline design was used to measure the effects of video modeling on direction