Teaching Play Skills to Children with Autism through Video Modeling: Small Group Arrangement and Observational Learning

The purpose of the present study was to examine if video modeling was an effective way of teaching sociodramatic play skills to individuals with autism in a small group arrangement. Besides maintenance, observational learning and social validation data were collected. Three 9 year old boys with autism participated in the study. Multiple probe design across behaviors was used to examine the effectiveness of video modeling. Results of the study revealed that participants acquired their own roles via video modeling. They also maintained the skills they learned two weeks after the training sessions were completed. Observational learning data were also very positive with all participants. As a result, it can be said that video modeling was effective in teaching sociodramatic play skills to children with autism. Based on the results of the study, it can be recommended that the study be replicated with writing different scenarios and with children with different kinds of disabilities.