Video modeling approach to train abduction prevention skills

Document Type

Thesis

College

College of Arts and Sciences

Department

Psychology

Degree

M.S. Applied Behavior Analysis

Date Completed

2017

First Committee Member

Ahearn, William H.

Second Committee Member

MacDonald, Rebecca

Third Committee Member

Karsten, Amanda

Abstract

"Childhood abduction by nonfamily members affects approximately 58,200 families each year (Finkelhor, Hammer, & Sedlak, 2002). These abductions can cause devastating effects which may be attenuated through proper execution of stranger awareness strategies to at-risk populations. With social-communicative deficits present in persons with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) it would be prudent to investigate successful teaching methods for those with ASDs. Many have evaluated teaching programs for teaching abduction prevention to typically developing children but fewer have evaluated teaching these skills to those with disabilities. The goal of the current study is to attempt to further previous research into video modeling for training abduction prevention skills by evaluating them with children diagnosed with an ASD. A multiple probe across contexts design was used to evaluate abduction prevention skill performance four participants with an ASD. Training videos depicted target responses of 1) saying no to a stranger’s lure, 2) walking away, and, 3) reporting the lure to a trusted adult. Results indicated that video modeling was sufficient at training the abduction prevention skills in one participant for all three contexts and video modeling with a short contingency review was sufficient for another participant. However, in-vivo training was necessary to produce the abduction prevention skills to the final two participants."

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