The Comparative Effectiveness of Portable Video Modeling vs. Traditional Video Modeling Interventions with Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Newly developed technologies are being incorporated into treatments for children with autism but there is only limited research examining how this affects child outcomes. In the present study, a multiple baseline design across children and an adapted alternating treatments design within child were used to compare the effectiveness of video modeling interventions implemented on the iPadA (R) to video modeling interventions implemented on the traditionally used television. Two targets were selected for each child and behaviors were randomly assigned to a treatment condition. Target behaviors were acquired and these behavior changes were found to be socially valid across treatment conditions. Four of the children required slightly more treatment sessions to acquire behaviors targeted on the iPadA (R). Generalization and maintenance were slightly higher following video modeling on the iPadA (R), but differences were inconsistent and unlikely to result in meaningfully different outcomes. These findings indicate that video modeling on the iPadA (R) does not result in improved child progress compared to traditional video modeling procedures. Additional research is needed to further examine the impact of using portable handheld devices when implementing video modeling interventions.