Research Team: Gillian R. Hayes, Erick Custodio, Rachel Weiner, Kathy Nguyen

Video modeling has been demonstrated to support individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in learning a variety of skills.This involves watching recorded videos of others (peer modeling) or oneself (self modeling) modeling positive behavior or successfully completing a task. However, video modeling has mostly been limited to stationary applications that involve caregivers presenting workshops and displaying the videos through television sets.

The ubiquitous nature of mobile technologies provides an opportunity to make video modeling more connected to the activities people are trying to accomplish. Thus, we designed and developed a mobile iOS application which allows individuals to watch peer model videos as well as record their own videos for self-evaluation and improvement. In our research, we are interested in exploring how this technological intervention can support development of social and life skills.

This work is in cooperation with CareerLink in the Irvine Unified School District. Special thanks to UROP and the NSF for partially funding this work.