Video modeling : play skills for students with autism spectrum disorder via peers

The purpose of this small-scale inquiry project was to investigate the effects of peer modeling and video modeling as an instructional support for the development of social skills amongst the population of kindergarten students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in an inclusive setting. The participants in this project were seven Kindergarten students with ASD, and four regular education students in an inclusive setting. The teachers were three general education teachers as well as myself, the teacher of the modified autism program. The data collection included teacher observations, email communication, and video created by teachers and teaching assistants. This study proposes the use of video modeling as a tool to teach social skills and to close deficits in peer play. The findings after six weeks of implementation demonstrate that video modeling improved ASD students \u27 social skills literacy and taught deficits in peer play. It also benefited the regular education students by helping them accept ASD students in a normal social discourse. Limitations and recommendations are discussed. The researcher recommends further research to document findings using a larger group of participants and data collected over a longer period of time