Disclaimer: I received a sample of these videos for the purpose of reviewing for no cost. However, the opinions are my own.
I have always been interested in video modeling as a therapeutic or treatment technique for children on the Autism spectrum. I was excited when I was contacted by Every Day Speech to preview some of the videos in his package. It’s a pretty comprehensive set of videos as you can see below:
What it Is: Every day social skills is a set of videos that are available for purchase and can be streamed online or downloaded. You could put them on your iPad or tablet computer to watch in therapy or use your computer.
The video quality is excellent with good lighting and clear audio.
Most of the videos are 1-2 minutes in length and are structured in the following format:
1. Introduction of Social skill. Each video starts with a written and narrated description of the targeted social skill. It’s great for focusing the students in on what they should be looking for. You could use these descriptions to make index cue cards for your students to keep.
2. Social skill completed incorrectly. The first video shown has one person making a social error. I prompted my clients to raise their hand if they saw someone completing an unexpected behavior to work on identify social faux pas. I also paused the video to have my clients explain what was unexpected.
3. Perspective taking. The video reviewed each participant’s thoughts about the experience. This was my favorite part of the video. I really liked how they had the person “thinking” also talking in their thought bubble. It helps to make the idea of thinking or talking to yourself more concrete. I paused before to see if my clients could determine what each person was thinking.
4. Explanation of social error. The problem is explained and the emotion that the person is feeling is labeled. There is a cue for what the child will attempt to do next time. This idea of next time can be powerful as it explains to the child, that you can look at what you did and then change your behavior.
5. Social Skill completed correctly. The video is repeated with the child in the video choosing a more socially appropriate action or response. I love the book We can make it Better stories and thought this was completed in a similar manner.
My clients enjoyed watching the videos. We worked on identifying feelings and thoughts and predicting what other people would think. Afterwards, we did role plays using action figures and practiced the skill. At the end of the session, we wrote out the skill and “steps” to the skill on index cards for my clients to take home.
What I would change:
The font in the video was easy to read but the cracks in the font may be a little distracting. I have worked with a few individuals who may end up perseverating on that.
On two videos there was a cue that prompted, “What did he do wrong?” or “What was bad about what he did?” If I was using this with a student, I would pause before this part and use more neutral language pairing it with some of the Social thinking® terminology. Much of the social thinking vocabulary is copyrighted which limits others abilities to use that language when creating their own products. Brittany, one of the creators, explained that they were trying to make some distinctions between behaviors-that some behaviors are more severe than others. She also reports that they may work on more natural consequences in the future.
What I loved:
I have been searching for some social skills video programs for the clinic where I work. I have been hesitant to purchase several programs as you need a CD to access them. I don’t have access to a DVD player/TV. The fact that these are streaming is so convenient especially for Speech Language Pathologists who are traveling between buildings.
The perspective taking piece is fantastic and I loved how this could be used to introduce a social skill that you will continue to target and talk about in therapy.
I loved that there are elementary and middle/high school groups represented in these videos. I know that my high schoolers are sensitive to material that is geared younger. I also appreciated the fact that they included some diversity within the videos and would love to see more of that in future videos.
Interested? Every Day Speech is offering some great deals for people who sign up on the waiting list.
- A guaranteed 50% off promo code, with no limits on purchase size
- A chance to win 1 of 2o video packages in a random drawing
- A blogger contest. The blogger who has the most people sign up on his waiting list will win a video package for every person who signed up through their link.
You can sign up for the waiting list HERE.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on video modeling or how you would use these products below.
