Children with autism present with unique communication needs. The children who are nonverbal present speech-language pathologists with the challenge of finding and establishing an effective means of communication, often in the form of an augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) system. This investigation explored the use of video modeling (VM) for training three 6 year-old children with autism to use the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) to spontaneously request highly desired items. An alternating treatment research investigation was conducted by alternating two intervention conditions, PECS alone and PECS with VM. Each child received 10 sessions of each condition with no more than two consecutive sessions of the same condition. The dependent variable was the percentage of correct picture exchanges out of 10-20 opportunities. A correct trial involved the participant picking up the picture, reaching for the communication partner, and releasing the picture into the communication partner’s hand without prompting from the silent trainer at any stage of the exchange. Event recording took place at each session and the percentages of non-overlapping data (PND) and slopes were calculated for each participant. Both intervention types (i.e., PECS alone and PECS with VM) resulted in increases in the number of independent requesting for all three participants. There was an increase in levels from stable baselines with no spontaneous picture exchanges to 35-53% with PECS only and 40-58% with PECS and VM. Two participants performed 60% of the paired sessions better when the PECS was paired with the VM versus with the PECS only sessions. One participant performed 70% of the PECS only sessions better than the PECS with VM sessions. The slopes led to different insights than the PND. This investigation supported previous literature. However, results have limited generalization due to the small sample size and decreased interest in the videos for two of the participants.
