This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publicati... more This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publication version). In terms of appearance only this might not be the same as the published article. Final manuscript published as:
This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publicati... more This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publication version). In terms of appearance only this might not be the same as the published article. Final manuscript published as: “Nikopoulos, C.K., & Nikopoulou-Smyrni, P.G. (2008). Teaching complex social skills to children with autism; advances of video modeling. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior
Computer-Assisted and Web-Based Innovations in Psychology, Special Education, and Health, 2016
There has been a shift in emphasis from language-based instruction to more visual instructional s... more There has been a shift in emphasis from language-based instruction to more visual instructional supports as a catalyst for learning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This development reflects extensive reports that children with ASD demonstrate enhanced performance on visual discrimination tasks compared with matched controls. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of current educational programs for children with ASD frequently employ visual aids such as picture prompts, photographic activity schedules, and videos. This chapter focuses on the use of video modeling applications with this population.
ABSTRACT Video self-modeling (VSM) is a promising intervention strategy for teaching a variety of... more ABSTRACT Video self-modeling (VSM) is a promising intervention strategy for teaching a variety of novel skills to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The present study provides preliminary effects of VSM on reducing the vocal stereotypy of children with ASD. Two children participated and experimental control was achieved using a multiple-baseline across subjects design. Results were highly encouraging with one of the participants who showed a large reduction of his vocal stereotypy. Also, the intervention gains were successfully generalized across stimuli, people, and settings and maintained at 2-month follow-up assessment. However, for the other participant, the intervention was interrupted prematurely as he showed stressful reactions in relation to the videos that were presented as part of the intervention. Possible mechanisms for the success of this procedure are discussed as well as implications for its use in educational settings and areas for further research.
Background: Peer relations serve many important functions in children’s development. In autism, h... more Background: Peer relations serve many important functions in children’s development. In autism, however, reciprocity of social exchange is missing and this has a devastating effect on the skill of relating. Recently video modeling has been regarded as an effective procedure that may offer some help. Objectives: The overall aim of this presentation is to demonstrate scientific evidence for video modeling as a valuable technique for promoting social play skills in children with autism. Critical components of this procedure will be highlighted through a brief exploration of three experimental studies. Some data from these studies have already been published in peer-reviewed journals and a book. Methods: In total, 13 children with autism participated and experimental control was demonstrated using either a multiple-baseline across subjects or a multiple-treatment designs. Study 1 investigated the general notion of promoting social play skills in children with autism. Study 2 assessed th...
The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 2014
Multidisciplinary practice has become an accepted approach in many education and social and healt... more Multidisciplinary practice has become an accepted approach in many education and social and health care fields. In fact, the right to a multidisciplinary assessment is enshrined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2007). In order to avert a ‘one size fits all’ response to particularly heterogeneous diagnoses, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends multidisciplinary input. Yet, multidisciplinarity lacks empirical evidence of effectiveness, is fraught with conceptual difficulties and methodological incompatibilities, and therefore there is a danger of resorting to an ill-defined eclectic ‘hodgepodge’ of interventions. Virtually all evidence-based interventions in autism and intellectual disabilities are behaviourally based. Not surprisingly, therefore, professionals trained in behaviour analysis to international standards are increasingly becoming key personnel ...
Video modeling has been suggested as a powerful treatment tool that has concentrated on increasin... more Video modeling has been suggested as a powerful treatment tool that has concentrated on increasing a variety of skills in children with autism. However, it has rarely been examined as a behavioral procedure for eliminating kinds of behaviors (e.g., noncompliance), a target that is often included in children’s support plans. The present study provides preliminary effects of video modeling on establishing instructional stimulus control over a simple behavior (cleaning up a toy) that required the termination of an ongoing activity. Three children with autism participated, and experimental control was accomplished using a multiple-baseline-across-subjects design. The results showed that this procedure can be effective for children with lower baseline levels of disruptive behaviors and more developed imitation skills. Successful responding generalized across stimuli and subjects and was maintained at a 1-month follow-up assessment. Specific guidelines for building video modeling into rea...
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009
Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a powerful method for developing effective and long-las... more Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a powerful method for developing effective and long-lasting interventions towards the elimination of problem behaviors and the increase of desirable behaviors. It includes a variety of methods designed to identify the environmental variables that maintain a problem so that they can be removed or structured alternatively and hence, the occurrence of appropriate behaviors will become more likely (e.g., Umbreit et al. 2007). FBA has been widely used in clinical and inclusive settings focused on individuals with developmental disabilities with great success. Since its inclusion in the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, however, it has increasingly been applied to mainstream school settings as a core component of the schoolwide positive behavior supports (PBS) approach (Weber et al. 2005). Following this trend, the publication of the second edition of “Behavioral support: Teachers’ guides to inclusive practices” ...
The main objective was the development and collection of preliminary data on the application of a... more The main objective was the development and collection of preliminary data on the application of a new integrated clinical reasoning model (Anadysis) with patients suffering a stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). Twelve healthcare professionals working in the neurological and the Accident and Emergency (A&E) units of an acute general hospital participated and experimental control was achieved by employing a pre-test post-test control group experimental design. Members of the control group used the current reasoning model of their discipline whereas the new integrated model was used by the members of the experimental group irrespective of their professions. Outcomes were measured by scoring on a protocol derived from the UK National Clinical Guidelines for Stroke divided into the three main clinical reasoning processes. Collectively, data from 186 protocols based on the medical records of 49 patients showed that median percentages of correct responses in clinical reasoning were substantially higher for the experimental group by using the new integrated model. This study will inform the healthcare professionals about a new effective integrated clinical reasoning model which incorporates the complex processes of diagnosis, planning and treatment as a whole. This study may also become an important consideration in the further development of clinical decision support systems within the scientific area of health informatics.
This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publicati... more This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publication version). In terms of appearance only this might not be the same as the published article. Final manuscript published as:
This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publicati... more This article is a version after peer-review, with revisions having been made (i.e., pre-publication version). In terms of appearance only this might not be the same as the published article. Final manuscript published as: “Nikopoulos, C.K., & Nikopoulou-Smyrni, P.G. (2008). Teaching complex social skills to children with autism; advances of video modeling. Journal of Early and Intensive Behavior
Computer-Assisted and Web-Based Innovations in Psychology, Special Education, and Health, 2016
There has been a shift in emphasis from language-based instruction to more visual instructional s... more There has been a shift in emphasis from language-based instruction to more visual instructional supports as a catalyst for learning in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This development reflects extensive reports that children with ASD demonstrate enhanced performance on visual discrimination tasks compared with matched controls. Therefore, it is not surprising that the majority of current educational programs for children with ASD frequently employ visual aids such as picture prompts, photographic activity schedules, and videos. This chapter focuses on the use of video modeling applications with this population.
ABSTRACT Video self-modeling (VSM) is a promising intervention strategy for teaching a variety of... more ABSTRACT Video self-modeling (VSM) is a promising intervention strategy for teaching a variety of novel skills to children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The present study provides preliminary effects of VSM on reducing the vocal stereotypy of children with ASD. Two children participated and experimental control was achieved using a multiple-baseline across subjects design. Results were highly encouraging with one of the participants who showed a large reduction of his vocal stereotypy. Also, the intervention gains were successfully generalized across stimuli, people, and settings and maintained at 2-month follow-up assessment. However, for the other participant, the intervention was interrupted prematurely as he showed stressful reactions in relation to the videos that were presented as part of the intervention. Possible mechanisms for the success of this procedure are discussed as well as implications for its use in educational settings and areas for further research.
Background: Peer relations serve many important functions in children’s development. In autism, h... more Background: Peer relations serve many important functions in children’s development. In autism, however, reciprocity of social exchange is missing and this has a devastating effect on the skill of relating. Recently video modeling has been regarded as an effective procedure that may offer some help. Objectives: The overall aim of this presentation is to demonstrate scientific evidence for video modeling as a valuable technique for promoting social play skills in children with autism. Critical components of this procedure will be highlighted through a brief exploration of three experimental studies. Some data from these studies have already been published in peer-reviewed journals and a book. Methods: In total, 13 children with autism participated and experimental control was demonstrated using either a multiple-baseline across subjects or a multiple-treatment designs. Study 1 investigated the general notion of promoting social play skills in children with autism. Study 2 assessed th...
The Australian Educational and Developmental Psychologist, 2014
Multidisciplinary practice has become an accepted approach in many education and social and healt... more Multidisciplinary practice has become an accepted approach in many education and social and health care fields. In fact, the right to a multidisciplinary assessment is enshrined in the United Nations Convention of the Rights for Persons with Disabilities (United Nations, 2007). In order to avert a ‘one size fits all’ response to particularly heterogeneous diagnoses, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends multidisciplinary input. Yet, multidisciplinarity lacks empirical evidence of effectiveness, is fraught with conceptual difficulties and methodological incompatibilities, and therefore there is a danger of resorting to an ill-defined eclectic ‘hodgepodge’ of interventions. Virtually all evidence-based interventions in autism and intellectual disabilities are behaviourally based. Not surprisingly, therefore, professionals trained in behaviour analysis to international standards are increasingly becoming key personnel ...
Video modeling has been suggested as a powerful treatment tool that has concentrated on increasin... more Video modeling has been suggested as a powerful treatment tool that has concentrated on increasing a variety of skills in children with autism. However, it has rarely been examined as a behavioral procedure for eliminating kinds of behaviors (e.g., noncompliance), a target that is often included in children’s support plans. The present study provides preliminary effects of video modeling on establishing instructional stimulus control over a simple behavior (cleaning up a toy) that required the termination of an ongoing activity. Three children with autism participated, and experimental control was accomplished using a multiple-baseline-across-subjects design. The results showed that this procedure can be effective for children with lower baseline levels of disruptive behaviors and more developed imitation skills. Successful responding generalized across stimuli and subjects and was maintained at a 1-month follow-up assessment. Specific guidelines for building video modeling into rea...
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009
Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a powerful method for developing effective and long-las... more Functional Behavioral Assessment (FBA) is a powerful method for developing effective and long-lasting interventions towards the elimination of problem behaviors and the increase of desirable behaviors. It includes a variety of methods designed to identify the environmental variables that maintain a problem so that they can be removed or structured alternatively and hence, the occurrence of appropriate behaviors will become more likely (e.g., Umbreit et al. 2007). FBA has been widely used in clinical and inclusive settings focused on individuals with developmental disabilities with great success. Since its inclusion in the 1997 reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, however, it has increasingly been applied to mainstream school settings as a core component of the schoolwide positive behavior supports (PBS) approach (Weber et al. 2005). Following this trend, the publication of the second edition of “Behavioral support: Teachers’ guides to inclusive practices” ...
The main objective was the development and collection of preliminary data on the application of a... more The main objective was the development and collection of preliminary data on the application of a new integrated clinical reasoning model (Anadysis) with patients suffering a stroke or Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA). Twelve healthcare professionals working in the neurological and the Accident and Emergency (A&E) units of an acute general hospital participated and experimental control was achieved by employing a pre-test post-test control group experimental design. Members of the control group used the current reasoning model of their discipline whereas the new integrated model was used by the members of the experimental group irrespective of their professions. Outcomes were measured by scoring on a protocol derived from the UK National Clinical Guidelines for Stroke divided into the three main clinical reasoning processes. Collectively, data from 186 protocols based on the medical records of 49 patients showed that median percentages of correct responses in clinical reasoning were substantially higher for the experimental group by using the new integrated model. This study will inform the healthcare professionals about a new effective integrated clinical reasoning model which incorporates the complex processes of diagnosis, planning and treatment as a whole. This study may also become an important consideration in the further development of clinical decision support systems within the scientific area of health informatics.
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Papers by Christos Nikopoulos