by Tina Correa-Barron, MS, CCC-SLP (Speech-Language Pathologist); NWACS Contributor

I have used video modeling as a speech-language pathologist to help students sequence an activity and to demonstrate a role-play of social behaviors to allow students to observe and analyze these skills.

Last year, I had many new students who struggled with play behaviors and understanding how to appropriately play with a variety of toys. I tried to figure out how to help these students learn play behaviors to increase opportunities for social interactions and engage in a greater variety of joint attention activities.

I would often model how to play with a toy for a student, but struggled to keep their attention and make the model meaningful to them. I started thinking about different ways I could help a student observe appropriate play with a toy/activity in a way that is engaging for them. Since I was already using video modeling for different skills, I figured I would try using it to teach play skills.

I made short videos of other kids using toys in appropriate ways. I noticed that students were able to focus and attend to information presented in a brief video clip better than in a live model. Some students had peers they preferred to engage with and using those peers as models in the videos was a way to increase engagement in the task as well. 

Typically, the videos I make are very short and then I give the student an opportunity to engage in the behavior immediately after watching the video. For example, in the video there is a model of a person stacking one block on top of another, and then I immediately present the student with the exact same blocks and allow them to interact with the blocks in the same way as the video.

After using this method a few times and finding some success with some students, I was sure other people had tried this. There is actually a systematic review of literature on this topic at the ASHA website.

I also noticed, later, that we were able to use the video as a tool to talk about what other people are doing.  This allowed them to reflect on activities other students engage in and participate in the retelling of a short story they were interested in. 

How do you use video modeling?  What has worked for you? 

For more information, including a video module to learn how to implement video modeling effectively, refer to:

Cox, A., & AFIRM Team. (2018). Video modeling. Chapel Hill, NC: National Professional Development Center on Autism Spectrum Disorder, FPG Child Development Center, University of North Carolina. Retrieved from http://afirm.fpg.unc.edu/video-modeling