Development and Validation of Video Modeling Materials for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

BACKGROUND: India is a linguistically and culturally diverse nation where social communication skills such as greeting, requesting, and nonverbal cues are expressed differently in comparison to Western norms. Hence, the direct application of Western video modeling (VM) resources in the Indian population is not advisable. As a result, this study focused on the development and validation of mixed VM materials designed to improve social communication among children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the Indian context. Given the scarcity of culturally relevant VM materials for intervention of children with ASD in India, this research fills a critical gap by creating tailored resources. This work is the initial phase of a broader investigation into the impact of a mixed VM intervention in children with ASD in the Indian context. METHOD: The principle of iterative processes guided the three distinct phases of development of VM material. The first phase focused on the development and validation of activities, followed by the second phase, the development and validation of scripts. In the third phase, socioculturally appropriate videos were developed and validated. Throughout the validation process, 11 stakeholders were consulted. A 5-point rating scale was used to validate in terms of appropriateness, feasibility, simplicity of language, sociocultural relevance, and video image clarity. RESULTS: The content validity ratio (CVR) was used to validate activities, scripts, and videos. CVR scores of 1.0, 0.81, and 0.77 were obtained in the validation process of activities, scripts, and videos, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that these videos are suitable for exploring the effects of mixed VM interventions. This is the first step toward the successful implementation of mixed VM interventions for early social communicative skills in children with ASD in India.