If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video must be worth a million!  Several years ago, I received a package in the mail that contained the components for my home internet service.  I was a little nervous because I just knew that I was going to spend countless hours on the phone with technical support because I had never done this before.  I am a very visual learner and reading a manual isn’t the best way for me to learn.  When I opened the box, I was happy to find an instructional video.  For the next 15 minutes, I was able to watch a video of a real person connect cables, select menus on the computer and successfully access the internet.  I was able to pause, rewind and watch the video as many times as I needed in order to grasp the concepts.  I was surfing the internet within 30 minutes of receiving the components!  In today’s high-tech society, we have access to all different types of media to learn new things. 

These same techniques have been used successfully with individuals with ASD to teach communication, social skills and increase independence while completing a task. Video modeling is a strategy where desired skills and behaviors are learned by watching a video demonstration and then imitating the behavior seen in the model.  Video self modeling is where the individual watches a video of themselves completing a task.  While there are some commercially available videos to teach certain skills, many people have begun to make their own videos specifically tailored to the individual and the skills they want to teach.

 With advancements in technology, it is easier to support video files on many augmentative communication devices.  You can load video models of self care tasks (ex., brushing teeth or making a sandwich), classroom tasks (ex., preparing for math class), or social interaction activities (ex., greeting a friend).  This will allow you to provide your student with tools that can increase his/her independence and learning.    Placing the video models directly on the AAC device will make the videos easily accessible from communication pages, thus allowing the individual to talk and ask questions about the task at hand.

The DynaVox Xpress  is an example an AAC device that can support video.  You can play a variety of video file types (.avi, .mpg, .mpeg, or .wmv) on your Xpress through the Video Player menu. You can play video files that you have imported into your video library. To learn how to load and play videos on your DynaVox Xpress, go to http://www.dynavoxtech.com/Support/search.aspx and type in keyword “video.”

For more information about video modeling and video self modeling, review the following websites:

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/5254.html

http://www.autism-community.com/using-video-modeling-to-teach-social-skills/