Tom Buggey, Ph D at the University of Tennessee-Chattnooga and
Siskin Children's Institute Center for Research
In January of 2007, Dr. Buggey was appointed Siskin Children's Institute's Chair of Excellence in Early Childhood Special Education at the University of Tennessee-Chattnooga. This, following 14 years at the University of Memphis. Dr. Buggey made the move in order to have more time to research the effects of Video self-modeling (VSM). Of special interest is the affects that VSM has on children with autism.
VSM was defined by Dr. Peter Dowrick of the Univ. of Hawaii - Manoa as the procedure of using carefully planned and edited positive self-images of adaptive-only behavior on video. The goal of VSM is to change the frequency or quality of a person's behavior. By using basic video production techniques, images of behaviors which pose special challenges for individuals can be altered or enhanced. Self-modeling involves creative planning and editing to produce a short video approximately two or three minutes long. Students view their video several times over a two week period and a parent or educator notes their reactions and changes toward the predetermined goals. Modeling is a powerful way to learn. Peer models closest to the observer in all characteristics have been shown to have the most impact. Thus, having the students view themselves doing the modeling has the potential to cause even greater change. What better model than seeing ourselves performing at our best? With the simple use of a camcorder and VCR individuals are able see themselves mastering new skills, accepting new situations comfortably, living their future dreams. With the advent of digital editing software like Imovie for the Mac and Movie Maker for PCs, the ability to manipulate and edit movies has never been easier. There are very few issues that self-modeling cannot change. The only requirements are that persons
can recognize themselves, that they can attend and are interested in the video, and that the desired change is realistic. Perhaps because of its
inherent quality of providing positive images that can enhance self-concept, Videotaped Self-modeling often succeeds where conventional
methods have failed. And, it can be a lot of fun!
1. Language Aquisition - Dr. Buggey's dissertation research involved teaching preschool students to use the verb 'be'. Three 3 - 4 yr. olds. were taped imitating sentences with the verb. The best examples were edited into a VSM tape and the children then viewed this upon their arrival at school. Language samples collected at lunch and recess indicated that the students were using the verb form in their coversational speech.
2. Responding behaviors in students with Autism - Three students with autism were filmed over 2 weeks during play sessions. During these sessions the students were asked many questions. There were enough responses to piece together a two minute tape of the student answering questions. On the tape, it appeared as if the student was responding to every question posed. After watching the tapes of themselves, their response rates doubled. For certain questions, the response rates tripled or quadrupled. One of the students only had 3 responses in the first 2 weeks. Her 3 responses were looped -repeated- into a two minute tape.
3. Morning routine - Transitions - The parents of a 10 year old boy with Asperger's Syndrome wanted to decrease the time it took the boy to complete his morning activities prior to school. He was taking 60-65 mins. a day to complete this. For the VSM tape, the boy acted out his daily routine following the development of a storyboard depicting each activity/chore as a scene in a movie. We taped on a Sunday afternoon and the boy got in his pajamas and we had a great time filming. He responding very well to the "places everyone", "camera - action" prompts. In less than an hour we had a tape of all his activities from waking to going out the door to school. The boy watched this tape for two weeks. The results were stunning. The day after the first viewing he was ready to go out the door in 20 minutes with almost no prompting from his parents. This rate remained steady over three weeks even when the videotape was withdrawn.
4. Lunch - Time for eating - A 7 yr. old boy with autism was only eating about 1/3 of his lunch within a 30 minute period. He needed constant redirection and was often staring and self-stimulating by shaking his silverware. We took videos of him eating and condensed the scenes of spoon to mouth to make it appear that he was eating quickly. He watched his first video on a Wednesday morning. He then was absent the following two days. On Monday he finished his lunch with enough time left over to clean up. During the next two weeks this behavior maintained while watching the video and continued upon withdrawal of the video.
5. Preschool pushing - A 5 yr. old boy with developmental delay and very limited expressive vocabulary was grabbing children by the cheeks, squeezing, and pushing them down. We made a video consisting of him complying to requests and touching appropriately. Following his first day of viewing the tape, his behavior ceased. In the next month the behavior occurred once.
6. Reading Fluency - Link to article Three girls in 4th grade who were at risk for referral to special education and were reading two years below grade, were filmed following extensive training reading a story from their 4th grade text. After watching their films we were visited by two of the teachers who wanted to know what we did. They had volunteered to read for the first time that school year. More interestingly fluency scores on Curriculum-based measurements and norm-referrenced tests improved. -
