A Comparison of the Effectiveness of Video Prompting and Self-video Modelling on the Reduction of Autistic Children's Symptoms

Aim: The present study was conducted to compare the effectiveness of video prompting and self-video modelling on the reduction of autistic children's symptoms. Methods: The method of this research was using a quasi-experimental method using two experimental groups and one control group. The statistical population of this study included children with autism disorder aged 4-8 years who were treated at the Tehran Autism Centre from 2015 to 2017. According to the nature of this research, available sampling and random placement were used. At the end, 18 children were selected and randomly assigned into two experimental groups and a control group according to the inclusion criteria. Two video pieces that were previously prepared for teaching social communication skills in both video prompting and self- modelling were presented to participants during 24 sessions which lasted for 30 minutes. Prior to and after the intervention, the participants were tested for the skills mentioned above. The research instrument consisted of the Gilliam Autism Ranking Scale (Gares), Questionnaire of Sensory Profile, Video Modelling Intervention, and Self-Video Modelling Intervention. Collected data were analysed using MANCOVA test and Bonferroni's post hoc test and analysed by SPSS 24. Results: After ensuring the non-violation of statistical assumptions and based on the results of MANCOVA test, there is a significant difference between the three groups in the post-test, in the areas of communication and interaction. Also, there was no significant difference between the three groups in the emotional responses in the post-test scores with the moderation of pre-test effect. Also, the results of Bonferroni's post hoc test indicated that there is no significant difference between the two methods. Conclusions: The findings of this study emphasize the effectiveness of video prompting and self-video modelling on the reduction of communication and interaction problems of autistic children. Also, video modelling improves language deficiencies and restrictions, communication skills, verbal and nonverbal conversations, control of repetitive behaviours, spontaneous verbal requests, application commands, and daily life skills.