Using Video Modeling Delivered Through an iPod Touch to Teach Purchasing Skills to Students With Severe Cognitive Disabilities

Video modeling is a recent buzzword in the vocabulary of special educators and other professionals who work with individuals with disabilities. This type of modeling has proven effective in many studies specifically for individuals with autism. Recent studies show the effectiveness of acquiring skills through observing a video recording of a model (themselves or another person) performing the skill correctly. The technique used in this study is video modeling with another individual as the model (VMO). The researchers looked at the acquisition of purchasing skills based on viewing the video model in the grocery store. The VMO was presented using an Apple iPod Touch where the student could easily access the video and use headphones to hear the VMO while shopping in the grocery store.This research involved three high school-aged participants with significant cognitive disabilities who displayed a need for purchasing skills within the grocery store. They were taught seven steps through the VMO in the grocery store. The skills were: (a) select shortest checkout lane, (b) put divider down and place items from the cart on the belt, (c) greet cashier, (d) pay cashier appropriate bill or combination of bills, (e) wait and take change and receipt from cashier, (f) thank cashier, and (g) take bag and carry belongings to the exit. In order to check for generalization of the skill, the participant was taken to different local grocery stores not involved in initial teaching once they acquired mastery at the original grocery store.Results indicated VMO increased responding for all three participants from the beginning of the study for purchasing groceries. All participants generalized the purchasing skills in other grocery stores; however, each participant required additional instruction via VMO or other prompting throughout the study.The results illustrate for educators and researchers that VMO represents a practical method for increasing skills in community settings. This also illustrates the need for VMO to be paired with additional instruction and should not be used as the only mode to teach a skill