Affiliations: [a] Natural and Artificial Cognition Lab, Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy | [b] Neapolisanit Rehabilitation Center, Ottaviano, Naples, Italy
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Angelo Rega, Natural and Artificial Cognition Lab, Department of Humanistic Studies, University of Naples Federico II, Naples, Italy. E-mail: angelo.rega@unina.it.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Videomodeling is an effective technological tool for intervention and rehabilitation of children with autism spectrum disorders in different contexts. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this paper is to verify whether a videomodeling intervention is effective for the acquisition of social and emotional behaviour and skills of children with ASD using tablet PC. METHODS: One 6-year-old child with ASD, who does not use verbal communication, was involved in a multiple baseline across behaviours design: the independent variable was the videomodeling intervention, instead the dependent variable was the participant behaviour. Intervention was preceded by a pre-session of Functional Communication training. An intersubject analysis was used to evaluate participant percentage of response through the sessions. RESULTS: The participant showed a marked improvement in his emotional skills. The intersubjective analysis carried out shows the sharp increase in response in many target behaviours from the baseline to the intervention phase. A limitation of the study was the lack of time: there were only two inversion sessions, no follow-up evaluation, no generalization and no double-blind study. CONCLUSIONS: It would be interesting for future research to extend it to everyday life scenarios, to enhance generalization in other contexts, involving a larger number of people with ASD.
