A Comparison of Least-to-Most Prompting and Video Modeling for Teaching Pretend Play Skills to Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

AbstractThe aim of this study is to compare effectiveness and efficiency of least-to-most prompting and video modeling for teaching pretend play skills to children with autism spectrum disorder. adapted alternating treatment model, a single-subject design, was used in the study. Three students, one girl and two boys, between the ages of 5-6 participated in the study. effectiveness results of the study showed that there is no marked difference between least-to-most prompting and video modeling for teaching pretend play skills to children with autism spectrum disorder in terms of acquisition, maintenance, and generalization. However, when these two teaching processes are compared in terms of efficiency parameters, it was observed that teaching with least-to-most prompting is more efficient in comparison to video modeling for two subjects. social validity findings of the study showed that the mothers of the subjects and the graduate students who studied and had already taken certain courses for their master's degree in the Applied Behavior Analysis Program expressed positive opinions about the study. Findings obtained from the study were discussed and suggestions were given for further studies.Keywords: Autism spectrum disorders * Video modeling * Least-to-most prompting * Pretend playOne of the fundamental problems of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is the failure in social interaction and communication skills. These failures constitute a significant part of the criterion included in guidelines published by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for ASD diagnosis from past to present (2001, 2013). It is seen that failures in symbolic and scenario play take place in the DSM-IV-TR (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) under the developmental process category of communication disorders titled as improper playing skills (KircaaliIftar, 2012). According to the DSM-5, the most recent edition, failures in developing, maintaining, and understanding relationships are emphasized within the category of social interaction and communication disorders. Failures such as difficulty in sharing pretend play or having friends come to the forefront in this sub-category (APA, 2013). Therefore, it is seen that failures in pretend play skills have a vital role in the diagnosis of individuals with ASD.Play is an enjoyable, spontaneous activity in which children actively discover the world around them and bridge the gap between dreams and reality. They gain new experiences with people, objects and events using current knowledge, providing intrinsic motivation (Wolfberg, 1999). It is also an effective educational process supporting the development of a child's cognitive, lingual, social-emotional, and physical aspects (Lifter, Foster-Sanda, Arzamarski, Briesch, & McClure, 2011; Phillips & Beavan, 2012). Pretend play has an important role among early childhood play because it is emphasized in literature that pretend play in particular among the types of play is an early indicator of cognitive, social, and language skills (Barton & Pavilanis, 2012; Barton & Wolery, 2008; Lam & Yeung, 2012). Barton and Wolery (2008) stated that performing a series of interrelated realistic activities in pretend play can provide a basis for higher levels of thinking and reasoning. While pretend play is experienced at a basic level in early periods, it can turn into more complicated play to which symbolic components are added in parallel with development. Four different types of pretend play are listed : (a) functional play with pretense (a child can take an empty cup and pretend to drink water), (b) object substitution (a child can use a block as if it is a car) , (c) imagining absent objects (a child can hold their hand up to the doll's mouth pretending to feed it.), and (d) assigning absent attributes (a child can take the doll on their lap and say, The baby is ill,) as per Barton & Pavilanis (2012) and Ulke-Kurkcuoglu (2012). …