Video Modeling: Greeting a Friend to Initiate a Conversation
Students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) need explicitly taught social skills. Video modeling is a technique in which the student watches either himself/herself or a general education peer modeling a behavior or behaviors. Front of the Class has developed five video-modeling scenes to help the student with ASD. This video models social behavior when greeting an acquaintance.
The video shows:
- The Right Way
- The Wrong Way
- The Wrong Way – Fix
How to use this video…
- Note that the actor in red represents the student with ASD. The actor or actors in blue represent the general education peers.
- Show the video to your students with ASD
- Nonverbals: Pause the video and ask students questions about…
- Body Language: Is the student in red overly engaging or avoiding?
- Facial Expressions: What are the facial expressions of the student(s) in blue? Happy? Annoyed? Confused? Bored?
- Verbals: Pause the video and ask the students about what the actors are saying.
- How did the actor in red verbally engage the other actor(s) in blue?
- Was the actor in red making a “whopping topic change?” A “whopping topic change” (WTC) is when the student with ASD says something, and others cannot follow the conversational thread as to how he/she got to that topic. WTC’s can often confuse people or make people feel like you
aren’t interested in them. This term is from Social Thinking.
- Nonverbals: Pause the video and ask students questions about…
- Use a thought bubble
- Ask the students with ASD what they think the actors are thinking.
- Click here to download a thought-bubble graphic to be used in class.
- Invite a general education peer into class
- You might ask the drama teacher in your school if she has students who are willing to participate.
- Click here to print the script for this video.
- Have students with ASD act out the scene with their general education peers.
- Compare and contrast their experience role playing versus what they see on screen.