The Effects of Video Priming on Facilitating the Transition of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder between Activities and Settings

Abstract

Preschool children with disabilities spend more time when transitioning between activities and settings than their typically developing peers. Extended transition duration leads to reducing the time spent on teaching. Various antecedent-based transition strategies are used to increase independent transition and decrease the transition duration of children with autism spectrum disorder. One of these strategies is video priming. This study aimed to examine the efficacy of video priming, an antecedent-based transition strategy, on increasing independent transitions of children with autism spectrum disorder and decreasing the time these children spent in transitions. Also, identifying opinions of parents of and teaching staff for participating children regarding the acceptability of video priming was aimed. Four children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 4 and 6 participated in the study. An ABAB design was used to evaluate the effects of video priming. Results indicated that video priming effectively increased all children’s independent transitions and decreased transition duration. The results also showed that the parents and teaching staff had a highly positive opinion about the video priming and its acceptability. This study provided additional evidence that video priming can facilitate children’s transition with autism spectrum disorder. The implication for future research and practice were discussed.