USE OF GENERALIZATION-PROMOTION STRATEGIES AND VIDEO MODELING TO INCREASE SOCIAL SKILLS ACQUISITION FOR YOUNG CHILDREN WITH AUTISM

Abstract

Many children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have difficulty with developing and generalizing the social skills necessary for long term success. Social skills deficits can often lead to shortcomings in other areas, and can hinder a child’s potential for future independence. Currently, many studies addressing this issue use a train and hope approach to implementation, which does not always produce generalized outcomes. The study sought to determine how video modeling (VM) in conjunction with generalization-promotion strategies can be used to increase social skills acquisition for children with ASD. In this study, the use of generalization-promotion strategies and video modeling to increase social skills acquisition of children with ASD was evaluated by using a multiple baseline across behaviors design. Four students with ASD attending a public school and 11 neurotypical peers, all 8-10 years-old, participated in the study. Three behaviors were targeted based on results from the Autism Social Skills Profile (Bellini, 2006) completed by participants’ parents/guardians. The three behaviors targeted were joining an activity, obtaining attention and taking turns. The following elements of the study were evaluated: the success of the video modeling intervention alone and the success of the video modeling intervention with the addition of generalization-promotion strategies, along with the procedural fidelity of the intervention and the social validity of the outcomes. The results of the study suggested video modeling alone produced increases in the training setting, but this result did not generalize to the new setting. Explicit intervention was required to produce generalization. Therefore, video modeling and generalization-promotion supported children with ASD in generalizing their use of learned social skills. Throughout each phase of the study, there was a high level of procedural fidelity, and parents/guardians’ and data collectors’ social validity survey responses suggested the interventions and outcomes were socially significant to the participants. Maintenance data suggested that participants were able to maintain the learned skills following the completion of the intervention. There were limitations to this research design, resulting in recommendations for future research.