Using video modeling and role playing activities to teach social skills to middle school students with intellectual disabilities

This study investigated how two interventions, using video modeling alone versus video modeling combined with role-playing activities, may improve specific social skills for middle school students with significant Intellectual Disabilities (ID) utilizing a single-subject design. Specifically, the percentage of appropriate interactions was measured across three specific skill sets: sharing objects, reaction to inappropriate peer contact, and taking turns. During the first intervention phase, subjects viewed a video model and learned to discriminate appropriate from inappropriate behavior. During the second intervention phase, subjects viewed videos depicting appropriate behavior and took part in short role-playing activities where the participants imitated the video models. All four participants experienced growth in appropriate skill initiation during the first intervention and were able to retain some skills over the second baseline. Participants experienced increased growth in appropriate initiations during the second intervention. Participants’ abilities to initiate appropriate skills decreased over time once the intervention was removed. The study provides preliminary evidence that a combined intervention using video modeling and role-playing activities can improve social skills for middle school students with intellectual disabilities