When talking about ideas for our blog, someone suggested that I write a poem; luckily I had already written one. It’s somewhat related to the topic of this blog, I’ve also been told that it’s kind of cheesy:
And This Is Our Focus…
To create an environment where our experience can focus on motivating our children to learn what we have the capability to teach them.
To promote the idea that we should reinforce not only our students, but also one another.
To create a strong sense of teamwork within our classroom, by placing our minds on the same page and our eyes on each other’s needs.
To ask for help, honesty, and dependability from those who give us feedback.
To utilize creative new technologies to help our students learn and make tools to get the job done.
To learn from our students, so that they can learn from us.
Utilize creative new technologies? Here we go another “hot topic” clinical blog about Video Modeling (VM). Just another “hot-topic” surely, we get the reasons why it’s so interesting. Kids like watching videos, right? Videos make the job easier for the teachers, right? No. In fact implementing VM takes more time, and certainly watching the teacher do something they may find boring, is surely not motivation. What we really need to do is explore more about the basic terms of ABA: Modeling, Shaping and Chaining, after that rendering videos can be a piece of cake, if you have the right tools.
So you decided to take on a VM project? Read about the basics modeling, prompt procedures and transfer of stimulus control. What the child has learned from the clips, (demonstrated), and transferred to the natural environment is the true test. Not only rendering video clips, but also figuring out what steps to teach the student. Are you teaching novel play sequences? (Mangiapanello and Taylor 2003) Or Spontaneous requests? (Wert and Neisworth, 2003) Putting our arms up, and running in place, you may not need a video model. Does a longer task need to be broken down into smaller steps? The procedure in this blog is based on teaching a student to fold clothes using a video model, a long chain of behaviors which we had to capture (in a video clips) each specific step broken down to help the learner view and demonstrate it appropriately.
We have read how VM researchers have demonstrated that the use of video models outweighs simple, real life “In-Vivo” prompting demonstration techniques and with practice can carry over (generalize) to skills in other areas. (Charlop-Christy, M.H., Le and Freeman, 2000) So how do we make it work? Is it simple to demonstrate?
The steps in the videos that you are going to teach must be parsimonious, straight and to the point with enough time for you to manage delivery the prompts and reinforcement in between. And the procedure must be clean and implemented consistently. Abstract ideas, motions, or actions can be too complicated and can send the student a confusing message. They may focus on a point on the video that you can’t control for even other distractions in the environment.
We found some students do not to attend to VM at all. When attempting VM procedures, one of the first things I noticed was that some of the students did not have the pre-requisites such as sitting appropriately or even attending to the television. This is where the work needs to start. It all falls back to the principles of prompting compliance, teaching the skill and transferring over stimulus control to a naturally occurring stimulus. Initially the student hasn’t established the pre-requisites skills and there is no established connection between what’s going on in the TV to what we are asking them to do. We needed to start with having the student attending to the media, then add the teaching clips. Once attending was established, continuing onto the teaching clips and using most to least prompting graduated guidance to get the responses that we are looking for in the video clip. As we went on asking ourselves, can the student fold the clothes after we’ve turned off that VM?
On Motivation:
So forget it, VM isn’t working we’ll just teach him to fold clothes the “old fashion” way…but wait… sometimes the “old fashion way” still may not work because we are lacking an arsenal of powerful reinforcers.
Televisions and videos may not be inherently motivating. You may need additional reinforcers. It’s not SpongeBob, its Dan Nemeth, folding shirts (not that motivating). Other reinforcers should be present in the initial phases while the child sits and attends to the video, but we know they must eventually be faded out. This can be achieved by pairing the video models with a highly preferred items or activities (social praise, toys or watching highly preferred video clips) in the presence of the video model (as mentioned earlier) as a reward for completing the task! Frequent sessions of shaping “watching behavior” can be accomplished by 10 minute sessions of providing reinforcement for looking at the screen and partial/gesture prompts when student is not attending. Students are more likely to attend when they’re motivated by what they are watching.
This can help to increase attending in the initial phases. I found that it’s helpful to have someone working with me in the beginning, to make the process of teaching to deliver the additional reinforcers, help prompt correct response, or help pause, or move forward thru the video clips. You may even get “The great attender” the student who is inherently motivated to sit nicely, watch the clips, understands what is expected, and folds the shirt!
Getting it going…
The procedures you need are separate from the preparation of the actual videos, and as any good educator know, you have to prepare the lesson well in advance (prepare the data sheets then prepare the videos). Remember, we cannot control every variable in the environment; we are just trying to teach someone to fold a shirt, who has probably never needed to do so before. Be patient, and make changes to the data sheets or the videos if you need to. Once you have the correct types of video clips made, and the procedure nailed down, you can replicate it again with other students and other tasks. VM has many applications that have demonstrated success you can apply it to several areas:
— social interaction behaviors
— academic and functional skills
— communication skills
— daily living skills
— play skills
— social initiations
— perception of emotion
— spontaneous requesting
Making the videos:
New video modeling software can cost thousands of dollars and only make the process 30% less annoying. Most video cameras have the ability to easily transfer to the computer, which can be plugged into most video displays, I’ve taken video clips using an MP3 camcorder, mini flip cameras, or even your regular point and shoot camera can handle this job. Somewhat tedious, but if you have the skills to do it, I highly recommend editing your videos before transferring them. Some companies started making the clips for you. I recommend against this, because what we are teaching may not fit into their “mold.” Just do it yourself.
Create DVD:
Most cameras come with a type of simple software which will help you burn the clips you’ve taken onto DVDS, or to the TV Directly. You can show these clips and set up a DVD workstation.
What’s great about this traditional set up is that you can use the controller to pause, rewind, and flip between clips on the DVD. And you can sit the student at the table in front of the set-up. It’s less mobile, but more helpful when teaching table top activities.
Using a tablet or smart phone:
Capture your video clips with the device, and then use the video playback feature to show the student. You can line up several videos, pause, rewind and skip between videos. This is great portable technology enabling to teach your student “on the go” and for students who show more attending skills.
Video Photo Frames:
render the video and transfer to photo frames. Many of them now have the capability to show short videos. It’s very easy to flip back and forth between video clips. This can be a bit less expensive than a tablet or smart phone; frames are easy on mobility but poor on battery life.
We mentioned above the different displays that can be used. And everyone can point and record a sequence of events, but when creating VM’s you have to set certain constraints which may take some time to edit or re-take until you’ve got it right. Hine and Wolery (2006) demonstrated successful types of models are “point of view”, where the task of activity is located directly in front of someone sitting in front of a table, or from the view of the person. For the example in this blog, when folding, the model will fold clothes directly in front of the camera. This profile allows you to stand behind the student to provide all physical prompting. When the student demonstrates the skill consistently, you may fade back or to the side.
Teaching example: This is a basic example of how we were able to demonstrate the use of video models for folding. It’s a simple ABA reversal. It might vary from the typical discrete formats we are all used to. It did not fully account for experimental control.
You will need:
— Your premade video clips
— 2 pairs of pants
— 2 pairs of shirts
— Task analysis data sheets, graphs
— Reinforcers
Teaching Arrangement
Staff and student will sit in front of a television screen equipped with a DVD player and a remote control, DVD contaning video model clips, Steps in the videos should match the steps on your data sheet. Two pairs of pants and two shirts will also be present. Staff member will sit behind the student or to the side of the student. Highly preferred items will also be present and delivered for the correct completed sequences or series of chained steps in the task analysis. You may also provide social praise for appropriate sitting/attending. Data Sheet Example:
Two shirts folded = Two sessions on your Shirts Data Sheet
Two pants folded = Two sessions on your Pants Data Sheet
Baseline:
No Video Model will be shown at this time. Student is prompted to complete all of the steps. Data is collected.
Intervention:
Prior to having the student fold clothing, instructor presents a video model only 1 article of clothing as outlined in the DVD (Shirts or Pants). After the model has been viewed, the television is turned off and the student is asked to “fold clothing”. Each step will be prompted using most to least format and graduated guidance. Social praise can be delivered for appropriate attending or sitting at this time. Remember you are always looking for independent steps.
Mastery criteria: 100% accurate and independent responding for all of the target responses for each activity for at least 2 consecutive sessions. Once this mastery level is reached, move onto “Return to baseline phase”. It will take several sessions to reach criteron.
Return to Baseline:
If mastery criteron is reached using the video model, Present the sequence again without the video model reinforcement will be delivered for the independent completion of the entire chain.
Additional notes:
1. Correct steps are labeled on the data sheet with an (I) for Independence, and
2. Any variation from these steps should be scored as a (P) on the data sheet for those individual steps.
Successful Implementation:
These graphs represent when the simple reversal demonstrates that the student was able to fold an article of clothing after watching the VM clip:
These graphs shows 2 of many problems when using VM:
— If skill decreases, re-introduce video model until mastery is reached again.
— During maintenance, reduce the frequency of implementation using the standards Maintenance format, 2-3x per week, 1 per week and so on.
— Move to more restrictive prompts then re-fade.
— Ensure that your reinforcers are motivating in that moment, switch to another identified highly preferred item
— Ensure that reinforcement occurs after all the steps in the task analysis are completed independently, and not for individual steps
— Consider a highly-preferred video after completion of the video model (R+)
— If reinforcers are effective, and problems occur, return to work on the pre-requisite attending skills.
Final Summary:
There are so many ways to determine the effectiveness of VMs. It’s important for us to continue to evaluate different procedures for implementation across many types of skills beyond simple folding clothes. The above example of folding pants and shirts is a simple demonstration of how the use of VM can increase steps in the task analysis. It’s does not determine which procedure is better, and doesn’t account for all the variable which you may encounter, only a few of them. It’s also important to revisit this procedure to ensure experimental control if a research project is what you are looking for.
Charlop-Christy, M.H., Le, L., & Freeman, K.A. (2000). A Comparison of Video Modeling with In Vivo Modeling for Teaching Children with Autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders: Volume 30, Issue No. 6, pp. 537-552.
Hine, J.F. & Wolery, M. (2006). Using Point-of-View Video Modeling to Teach Play to Preschoolers with Autism. Topics in Early Childhood Special Education: Volume 26, Issue No. 2, pp. 83–93.
Wert, B. Y., & Neisworth, J. T. (2003). Effects of Video Self-Modeling on Spontaneous Requesting in Children with Autism. Journal of Positive Behavior Interventions: Volume 5, Issue No. 1, pp. 30-34.
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