Marjorie H. Charlop

Teaching Socially Expressive Behaviors to Children with Autism Through Video Modeling

Children with autism often lack complex socially expressive skills that would allow them to engage others more successfully. In the present study, video modeling was used to promote appropriate verbal comments, intonation, gestures, and facial expressions during social interactions of three children with autism. In baseline, the children rarely displayed any of the target behaviors. In treatment, each child watched a videotape of two persons interacting in a play setting. One person acted as the therapist and presented the social cues. The second acted as the child, and provided models of appropriate responses including verbal comments, intonation, gestures, and facial expressions. Results indicated that video modeling led to rapid acquisition of socially expressive behaviors. All three children reached criterion for all four target behaviors after viewing the video only three or four times. The children also displayed generalization of these socially expressive behaviors in probes across setting, stimuli, and persons.

The occurrence of autistic children's self-stimulation as a function of familiar versus unfamiliar stimulus conditions

The present study was conducted to determine whether certain stimulus conditions were associated with high and low rates of autistic childrens self-stimulation. Six autistic boys were assessed in situations varying along three dimensions: familiarity or unfamiliarity of setting, learning task, and therapist. Each child was observed in 10 10-min stimulus conditions, and trained observers recorded the occurrence of self-stimulation within each condition. The results of a 2 × 2 × 2 ANOVA indicated that self-stimulation occurred significantly more often with an unfamiliar than with a familiar therapist. Unfamiliar versus familiar setting and task were not significant effects, and there were no significant interactions. Also, significant differences were found within each condition, with self-stimulation increasing in frequency as the sessions progressed. Finally, there was a significant and negative correlation between the occurrence of self-stimulation and correct responding. These findings suggest several treatment strategies for facilitating a generalized suppression of autistic childrens self-stimulation.

Setting Effects on the Occurrence of Autistic Children's Immediate Echolalia

This study was designed to assess the effects of setting familiarity on autistic childrens immediate echolalia. Six autistic boys were presented with a receptive labeling task in several settings varying in familiarity of person, room, and task stimuli. The amount of immediate echolalia emitted during the task in each of the settings was recorded. The results indicated that the greatest amount of echolalia occurred in settings in which an unfamiliar person presented unfamiliar task stimuli. The second greatest amount of echolalia occurred when a familiar person presented the unfamiliar stimuli. The results are discussed in terms of previous literature, classroom design, and treatment procedures for autistic children.

Using Portable Video Modeling Technology to Increase the Compliment Behaviors of Children with Autism During Athletic Group Play.

A multiple baseline design across participants was used to examine the effects of a portable video modeling intervention delivered in the natural environment on the verbal compliments and compliment gestures demonstrated by five children with autism. Participants were observed playing kickball with peers and adults. In baseline, participants demonstrated few compliment behaviors. During intervention, an iPad® was used to implement the video modeling treatment during the course of the athletic game. Viewing the video rapidly increased the verbal compliments participants gave to peers. Participants also demonstrated more response variation after watching the videos. Some generalization to an untrained activity occurred and compliment gestures also occurred. Results are discussed in terms of contributions to the literature.

THE CHARLOP-ATWELL SCALE OF MOTOR COORDINATION: A QUICK AND EASY ASSESSMENT OF YOUNG CHILDREN

The Charlop-Atwell Scale of Motor Coordination was designed to meet the need for a quick and easily used measure of some aspects of gross motor coordination of children between the ages of 4 and 6 years. The scale was provisionally standardized on 201 children who were sampled across age, sex, race and income level. It is short, relatively simple for school teachers and researchers to administer, and does not require special equipment. The scale contains a subjective subtest, based on quality of performance, in addition to an objective subtest based on accuracy of performance. Results show a developmental trend, high test-retest and interobserver reliability, and strong external validity.

Effects of Script Training on the Peer-to-Peer Communication of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

A multiple baseline design across participants was used to demonstrate the effects of a script-training procedure on the peer-to-peer communication of 3 children with autism spectrum disorder during group play with peers. Both scripted and unscripted initiations as well as responses to peers increased for all 3 participants. Stimulus generalization across novel toys, settings, and peers was observed. Novel unscripted initiations, responses, and appropriate changes in topics during peer-to-peer exchanges were analyzed by considering the cumulative frequency of these behaviors across phases of the study. Treatment gains were maintained during 4-week follow-up sessions. Results are discussed in terms of recommendations for practitioners, response variability, and potential future avenues of research.

Social Skills and Play in Children with Autism

Social skills refer to the behaviors that allow an individual to interact with others in a mutually reinforcing way and to adapt those behaviors to different situations (Schopler and Mesibov in Social behavior in autism. New York: Plenum Press, 1986). Individuals with autism often display profound deficits in social behavior (e.g., Kanner in Nervous Child 2:217–250, 1943; Rimland in Infantile autism. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1964; Rutter in J Autism and Childhood Schizophr 8:139–161, 1978), and one of the defining characteristics of this disorder is an unwillingness or inability to engage in social interactions (American Psychiatric Association in Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed, text revision). Washington, DC: Author, 2000). Researchers and practitioners have developed numerous interventions designed to address these deficits. The present chapter reviews social skills deficits commonly demonstrated by children with autism, the importance of improving the social skills of children with autism, and interventions that are commonly used to improve the social skills of children with autism.

Teaching children with intellectual challenges to learn prepositions: Using a treatment package of computer-based photographs, time delay prompting, video self-modeling, and positive reinforcement

This review provides a summary and appraisal commentary on the treatment review by Mechling, L. C., & Hunnicutt, J. R. (2011). Computer-based video self-modeling to teach receptive understanding of prepositions by students with intellectual disabilities. Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, 46(3), 369–385. Source of funding and disclosure of interest: No source of funding reported, and no conflicts of interest reported by the original authors of this research report.

Lights, Camera, Action! Teaching Play and Social Skills to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder Through Video Modeling

Video modeling is an evidence-based treatment procedure that has been used to teach a wide variety of skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. In this chapter, after the background literature of video modeling is presented, and why it works so well is discussed, a thorough description of procedures to do your own video modeling and apply it to play and/or social skills is provided. Specifically, everything you need to know to make your own videos, including how to write your own scripts, how to get good actors, how to film your sequences, scene setup, and filming technique, is provided in this chapter. Samples are provided that can be used as guides for your own inventions. Finally, exactly how to do the video modeling procedure, based on past successful research experience, is presented. This chapter includes details you need to know to do successful video modeling for play and/or social skills.

New Is Not Always Improved: Evidence-Based Practice in Play and Social Skills Intervention

This chapter focuses on the importance of evidence-based practice and discusses issues in the context of interventions designed to teach play and social skills to children with ASD. The chapter aims to (a) provide a brief historical overview of the evidence-based practice movement beginning in the field of medicine and moving to psychology and education, (b) describe the common approaches to defining and identifying evidence-based practices, (c) identify specific evidence-based practices suitable for teaching play and social skills to children with ASD and note where each of those practices is presented in this text, and (d) discuss the reasons why practitioners and families may select practices that are not evidence-based. Ultimately, this chapter is intended to set the stage for subsequent chapters that focus on a variety evidence-based treatment options that have been repeatedly demonstrated to be capable of improving the play and social skills of children with ASD.