Supporting teachers of children with autism using distance education and video portfolios

Rural Special Education Quarterly, Fall 2002 by Zahn, Gail, Buchanan, Michelle

Video not only made it possible to better define specific behaviors but also assisted in identifying environmental factors that may impact the behavior. Once the problem behavior had been satisfactorily defined and external and internal factors that may impact that behavior were identified, a hypothesis was formulated as to the purpose of the behavior. Participating teachers then chose intervention strategies to try with their children. The intervention strategies also served as a test of the hypothesis. Some of the strategies used by cohort students included the use of visual schedules and checklists, the Picture Exchange Communication System, modification of environment, support for social interaction, and social stories. Teachers videotaped the child's behavior before implementing an intervention, during application of the intervention, and after the intervention to demonstrate the effectiveness of the intervention and their mastery of the strategy. Videotaping during this period also served to document the accuracy of the hypothesis. Teachers using video in this way learned to work more collaboratively with parents and professionals to understand problem behavior and develop supports for positive behavior.

Using Video to Document Progress

Video portfolios provided authentic, performance-based assessment of participant's learning of specific skills when direct supervision in the classroom was not possible. Videotaping prompted self-reflection and critical review of teaching and ways of relating to students. For the teachers and the child's family members, videotape provided an "end of year" child autobiography of progress.

Using Video for Training Others

During the final summer institute, with the assistance of the University of Wyoming's media labs and technicians, teachers edited their video clips to create one or more training modules for use in training others who may be working with the same child in their school or community. All parents of the children with autism, with whom the participating teachers were working, were enthusiastic about videotapes being used for training. They signed permission slips for teachers to create and use videotapes for this purpose.

At the end of the ATTAIN program, teachers used their video portfolios to create training modules for use in training others in their districts to recognize characteristics of autism as they applied to the particular child with whom they were working. The modules developed by cohort participants demonstrated positive instructional and behavioral support strategies effective with that child.

The training module consisted of a short training script with videotape to demonstrate the characteristic or intervention strategy of interest. The training script would include a description of the setting that will be seen in the video, the characteristics of the student, and the hypothesis from which the interventions were developed. One such script developed by a participating teacher, provided an explanation of what was to be seen in the video. The outline of this script is provided in Figure 2. Strategies used described in the script included a daily visual schedule and a carpet square carried by the child used to provide a visual and physical boundary as the child moves from one center to another in the classroom.