TASH notes 4 video self-modeling

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Tash notes part 4

The one thing I went to that I would categorize as " take this home and use

it " was a presentation on video self-modeling. The concept is simple and

apparently powerful, esp. for those people with autism who are visual

thinkers and learners.

You videotape the student " doing the right thing " - whatever the target

outcome is- editing out any negative behaviors, prompts, etc. The student

gets to view him/herself as competent around this behavior, and thus

usually learns to generalize it very quickly. They outlined ways to

approach this, and showed clips as short as 2 minutes. There are some

entry level behaviors that are recommended for successful use of this

technique; (seeing oneself on a screen with recognition was one) but if in

doubt, this falls under " can't hurt to try " . They said that teachers love

making these, as well as parents, and some kids; behaviors changed just in

the act of being the " star " !

These folks were working closely with families and schools and did this in

both settings. They have a grant to develop a training program for

practitioners and families and so have very good data to support the

methods that they used.

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