A video self-modeling intervention for postsecondary students with autism spectrum disorders

Colleges and universities are experiencing increased enrollment of students diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). These students often demonstrate difficulties in social situations, such as interacting with peers or understanding social cues. As a result, students diagnosed with ASD can seem socially awkward and engage in inappropriate behaviors in social contexts. Currently, there are few studies that examine social skills interventions for college students diagnosed with ASD. A well-established intervention for addressing social skill development is video-self modeling (VSM). Until now, VSM research has focused on primary and secondary students, without investigating this intervention's effects on the social skills of individuals in the postsecondary setting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of VSM on social skills for individuals diagnosed with ASD in postsecondary settings. In this study, we examined the effects of VSM on social skills (i.e., social initiations, eye contact, and pausing) using a multiple baseline design across therapists and a multiple baseline design across participants with generalization probes. Results demonstrated high levels of response to VSM for three participants compared to baseline conditions, and moderate response for the fourth participant.