Teaching Students With a Mild Intellectual Disability to Respond to Strangers Using Computer-Based Video Instruction

Abstract

Computer-based video instruction (CBVI) has been effective in teaching students with disabilities various health, community, and safety skills. Research suggests that CBVI is often used in conjunction with community-based instruction (CBI). Frequently, students with severe disabilities or students who are of high school age participate in CBI and/or CBVI and its accompanying research. This study investigated the effectiveness of CBVI to teach students with a mild ID, ages 11–13, appropriate responses to lures from strangers. A single-case, multiple probe across participants design was used to examine the impact of CBVI on one dependent variable, a correct two-step response (verbal and motor) to a lure from a stranger. The two-step response was adapted from the Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar (2011) study investigating responses to strangers. Data indicated that CBVI had a positive impact on all four participants. Participants also maintained the skill (up to 5 weeks) and generalized to a novel setting. Parents and teachers involved in the study also reported positive opinions regarding the aim and outcomes of the study. Implications for practice and for future research are provided.

Keywords

computer-based instruction community-instruction lures from strangers disabilities age/grade level CAI technology perspectives social skills content/curriculum area transition intellectual disability exceptionality

Introduction

Educational decisions made at the elementary school impact middle and high school programming, and each pathway developed for a student is impacted by early decision making. Federal law requires transition planning to begin at age 16. However, 41% of states start this process earlier, with some states initiating planning at age 13 and incorporating transition planning into elementary school activities. The components of an effective transition plan include academic features as well as functional, daily living, and social skills instruction (Suk, Martin, McConnell, & Biles, 2020).

Often, for students with more severe disabilities, transition services focus on developing community and daily living skills. The delivery of these services is frequently achieved through community-based instruction (CBI), which utilizes the community as the classroom (Boles et al., 2019; Bramlett, Ayres, Cihak, & Douglas, 2011; Mechling & O'Brien, 2010). However, students with a mild ID fall into a predicament. They do not typically require intensive and rigorous daily living and functional skill instruction, provided in the special education classroom or the community through CBI. Students with a mild ID often have communication skills that disguise social and cognitive deficits, allowing them to spend more time in the regular education setting. Therefore, special attention should be given to developing and implementing transition services for students with a mild ID.

With the recent corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic and its global impact, CBI has been halted for the safety of students. For the last 2 years, CBI has ceased in many school districts across the United States due to school closures, virtual and e-learning at home, and the need for social distancing in public places (McLaughlin, 2021; Rowe, Carter, Gajjar, Maves, & Wall, 2020). While this was a significant barrier to CBI, even before the COVID-19 shutdown schools faced barriers to implementing CBI, such as having appropriate funding, limited resources, and constraints of No Child Left Behind. Additionally, insufficient staff, transportation barriers, and logistical requirements were also reported to interfere with effective CBI (Pickens & Dymond, 2015).

A promising alternative to CBI is computer-based video instruction (CBVI). CBVI has been utilized in classrooms and with children with disabilities for decades and can be an alternative to CBI when logistics, finances, school barriers, and scheduling make CBI difficult (Bramlett et al., 2011). CBVI is an educational methodology that uses computer technology to deliver instruction via videos and online tools (Butcher & Jameson, 2016).

Computer-based video instruction is grounded on the core basic assumptions of observational learning theory and research demonstrates positive impacts of indirect learning (McDonald & Ahearn, 2015). CBVI is relatively simple to implement and is time and cost-effective. Additionally, CBVI materials can be used repeatedly each school year and have limited logistical barriers. CBVI also requires fewer teachers and school staff to implement than does CBI (Hetzroni & Banin, 2017).

The impacts of CBVI have been largely positive in helping students with a mild to moderate disability realize growth towards transition planning goals. Research has demonstrated that CBVI has been used to successfully teach grocery skills (Mechling & O'Brien, 2010), social and safety skills (Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar, 2011), and other life skills to children with an intellectual and/or developmental disability and can have a similar, positive impact that CBI has on skill attainment.

Despite the effectiveness of CBVI on the acquisition and maintenance of vocational, academic, functional, and skills, much research is devoted to either CBI or CBVI for students with disabilities in the high school setting. Most CBI and CBVI research recruits students with a moderate to severe intellectual disability as participants. Additionally, most CBVI studies involving students with a mild ID focus on teaching daily living and community skills rather than social and safety skills (Gibson et al., 2017).

A literature review examining instructional methods used to teach employment skills to students with disabilities noted that of the 56 studies examined, subsets of the population of students with disabilities (moderate ID, severe ID, and autism) were studied more than others (Gibson et al., 2017). Of the studies examined, half used technology for instruction while the other half used live instruction in the classroom. The literature review concluded with a gap in research utilizing only CBVI as a form of intervention. In addition, a gap exists about the impacts of CBVI on social skills acquisition for younger students.

In addition to its efficacy, teachers consider CBVI easier to implement than CBI, as there are fewer logistical and financial costs involved (Rooney-Kron & Dymond, 2021). CBI is difficult to organize, yet CBVI tools can be easily created, embedded, and used for years. Additionally, CBVI has been described as interactive, captivating, and engaging for students with and without disabilities (Bippert & Harmon, 2017).

The positive impacts of CBVI strategies are observed across skills, including teaching grocery skills (Goo, Therrien, & Hua, 2016), academic skills (Satsangri, Billman, Raines, & Macedonia, 2021), purchasing skills (Barczak, 2019) health safety skills (Wells et al., 2012), food preparation skills (Mousa Al-Salahat, 2016), job skills (Mechling & Ortega-Hurndon, 2007), and life skills (Mechling, Ayres, Bryant, & Foster, 2014). Within the last decade, using CBVI strategies to teach social skills to students with disabilities has been given more attention and focus than in the years prior (Boles et al., 2019; Olcay-Gul, 2016).

CBVI and Social Skills

Individuals with poor social skills often report higher rates of depression and lower life satisfaction than individuals with adequate social skills (Olivares-Olivares, Ortiz-Gonzalez, & Olivares, 2019). Rates of depression are even higher for individuals with disabilities with social skills deficits. Research has demonstrated that video-role playing and video modeling effectively teach social skills to students with autism (Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar, 2011; Akmanoglu et al., 2014).

Research is emerging using CBVI to teach children with disabilities social skills (Fisher et al., 2020; Fox, Dishman, Valicek, Ratcliff, & Hilton, 2020; Mailey et al., 2021); however, most of these studies have focused on instruction to students with autism. Wang, Cui, & Parrila (2011) found that peer-mediated and video modeling interventions effectively improved social skills for children with ASD, with 75% of studies yielding a large effect size. The impact of age on intervention outcomes depends on what type of intervention was used, as younger students progressed faster than older students when given video modeling interventions (Wang et al., 2011).

Despite much research on CBVI being devoted to students with an ASD, CBVI has also been utilized to teach various social skills to students with an ID. Olcay-Gul (2016) focused on the use of video modeling and social stories to teach students with an ID a target social skill of saying “get better soon” in response to a sick friend. Results suggested that all three participants in the study acquired the target skill and maintained the skill for up to 4 weeks after completion. Olcay-Gul (2016) concluded that social stories and video modeling could effectively teach social skills to students with an ID in a relatively short amount of time.

CBVI to Teach Safety Skills and Stranger Awareness

Safety skills and stranger awareness are important skills for students as well. Increasing independence in the community is important for individuals with disabilities and can increase self-esteem, improve quality of life, and provide employment opportunities (Kelley, Test, & Cooke, 2013). CBVI has been used to teach safety skills, including extinguishing cooking fires (Mechling, Gast, & Gustafson, 2009), safely navigating public transportation (Mechling & O’Brien, 2010), first aid (Ozkan, Oncul, & Kaya, 2013), and navigating pedestrian signs and transportation in public (Kelley et al., 2013).

Akmanoglu and Tekin-Iftar (2011) studied the impact of CBVI on teaching children (ages 6–11) with autism how to respond to strangers. Their multiple probe design assessed the combined effects of video modeling, graduated guidance, and CBI for teaching children with autism how to respond to lures from strangers. During video modeling sessions, participants watched videos of a stranger delivering a lure to a model peer. The peer provided an appropriate response to the lure on the video. Participants received guidance and feedback from the researchers immediately. During the CBI settings, participants received lures from strangers in the community with immediate feedback and guidance given by the researcher. Results suggested that the intervention effectively taught appropriate responses to lures from strangers. In response to lures from strangers, all participants could either verbally state “no” or take 4-5 steps away from the stranger immediately following the lure. Additionally, students maintained the acquired skill for 4 weeks and generalized it to a novel location in the community.

Bell (2021) further explored using CBVI to teach children with an ASD how to appropriately respond when approached by a stranger. Bell (2021) taught participants, ages 6–12, to assertively yell “no way,” “stop,” or “go away,” and to indicate to strangers they would run away and tell a trusted adult that “someone bothered them.” Participants watched four videos (each lasting 1 minute) depicting appropriate responses to lures from strangers. At the conclusion of each video, participants were asked, “What would you do if you were asked something by a stranger?” Unique to the Bell (2021) study was that students received no additional instruction other than the CBVI. At the research’s conclusion, all participants were able to demonstrate the appropriate responses between two and five video modeling sessions and maintained the acquired skills at the 1-year follow-up assessment. While CBVI has been studied in conjunction with other intervention measures, Bell (2021) demonstrated CBVI alone will suffice as an intervention procedure. Until this research, most CBVI research included CBVI and discussion, feedback, promoting, and/or gradual guidance.

A meta-analysis conducted by Trevor, Park, & Blair (2021) suggests a gap in the research using CBVI to teach students with a mild ID how to safely respond to strangers. Despite video modeling and CBVI having the largest treatment effect size (.97), of the 31 studies analyzed involving individuals with an intellectual disability and safety skills interventions, only one study (Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar, 2011) examined video modeling in response to lures from strangers. Six other studies included in the meta-analysis examined stranger safety and sexual abuse prevention; however, the majority of these studies were dated before 2000 and did not involve the use of video modeling.

Even with the Bell (2021) study being completed after their meta-analysis, these results suggest a clear gap in the research surrounding CBVI and stranger safety involving students with a mild ID, as few studies specifically address safety skills and appropriate interactions and responses to strangers (Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar, 2011; Bell 2021; Trevor et al., 2021). When investigating further, these few studies do not incorporate CBVI as the sole instructional component (Bell, 2021). The current study is designed to examine the effectiveness of an instructional program consisting only of CBVI for teaching students with a mild ID how to respond to strangers and answer the following questions:

1. Is an instructional program consisting only of CBVI effective in teaching students with a mild ID (between the ages of 11–13) how to respond to a stranger?

2. What are the effects of the instructional program on the generalization of the learned social interactions to novel situations with strangers in real-life experiences?

3. What are parents' and teachers opinions of the instructional program?

Method

Participants

Four students (one girl and three boys) with a mild ID from an intermediate and middle school in the South Eastern United States participated in the study. Participants were included in the study if they met the following inclusion criteria: (a) had a diagnosis of mild ID with an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Standard Score (SS) ranging from 48–70, (b) had delays in adaptive behavior (SS = 48–70) in at least two adaptive skill domains measured by an adaptive behavior rating scale, (c) was annually assessed by the state assessment, (d) manipulated a computer, (e) had adequate mobility skills, (f) had transition or social-emotional services listed on their IEP, and (g) demonstrated attending and imitating skills of at least 5 minutes.

Students who had missed more than 10 days of unexcused instruction, and/or were enrolled in the district virtual education program, were excluded. For social validity measures, parents and primary special education teachers who worked directly with the participants completed the survey.

Joshua

Joshua was a 13 year, 7-month-old African American male enrolled in seventh grade at a middle school. Joshua was diagnosed with a mild ID (IQ SS = 70). Joshua’s adaptive delays lie within his communication and social skills. Joshua received all core academic instruction inside the special education self-contained classroom. He transitioned to elective classes, lunch, and recess independently throughout the day. Joshua was described by his teachers as friendly, helpful, and creative. According to his teacher, Joshua’s academic skills fell within a second-grade range. Joshua had expressive and receptive communication deficits that negatively impact his social skills, as he had difficulty with vocabulary, expressing his feelings, and sustaining a reciprocal conversation with others.

Terry

Terry was an 11 year, 6-month-old African American male enrolled in sixth grade at an intermediate school. Terry was diagnosed with a mild ID (IQ SS = 67). Terry’s adaptive delays fell within his communication and social skills. Terry received all core academic instruction inside the special education self-contained classroom. Terry transitioned to elective classes, lunch, and recess independently throughout the day. According to his teacher, Terry’s academic skills fell within the first-grade range. Terry was described by his teachers as compliant and soft-spoken. Terry’s teacher reported that he had few friends inside the classroom. He reportedly gravitated towards adults in social settings.

Natalie

Natalie was a 13-year 5-month-old Hispanic female enrolled in seventh grade at a middle school. Natalie was diagnosed with a mild ID (IQ SS = 62). Natalie’s adaptive delays fell within her communication, social skills, and daily living skills. Natalie received all core academic instruction in math, ELA, science, and social studies inside the special education classroom. Natalie transitioned to elective classes, lunch, and recess independently throughout the day. According to her teacher, Natalie’s academic skills fell within the kindergarten range. Natalie was described by her teachers as easy to please. Natalie indicated to her teachers that she did not prefer to be in large crowds. According to her teacher, Natalie had only one friend.

Michael

Michael was a 13 year six-month-old African American male enrolled in seventh grade at a middle school. Michael was diagnosed with a mild ID (IQ SS = 62). Michael’s adaptive delays fell within his communication, social skills, and daily living skills. Michael received all core academic instruction inside the special education self-contained classroom. Michael transitioned to elective classes, lunch, and recess independently throughout the day. Academically, Michael was performing at a second-grade level. His teachers described Michael as very cooperative, friendly, and helpful. Socially, Michael’s teacher reported that he had friends inside the classroom; however, he did not socialize with others outside of class.

Peers

Four typically developing students were selected to be model peers for the appropriate responses to stranger lures, two boys and two girls. The chosen students were between the ages of 11–13, with each child filming one video. The children selected were from the school where the intervention took place and/or were acquaintances of the principal researcher.

Strangers

Four strangers were used during the CBVI videos, two females and males. Each stranger filmed one video. The strangers were an acquaintance of the principal researcher and ranged in ages from 40 to 60.

Setting

The two schools are approximately one mile apart. The CBVI intervention trials occurred in a self-contained classroom for students with various disabilities in grades 4–6 (intermediate school) and 7–8 (middle school). In both classrooms, the baseline, intervention, and maintenance trials occurred at a small table at the back of the classroom. Pre-generalization and generalization probes took place at the playground of each school.

During the intervention phase, CBVI video vignettes were played within the students' classroom. In both classrooms where CBVI was delivered, one special education teacher and three adult paraprofessionals were present. Additionally, class ratios were equal, as there were seven students in each class. The intervention was conducted in ten-minute sessions for 5 days per week.

Materials

A Dell Latitude 5400 laptop computer, an I-Phone 11 (to record vignettes and to function as a stopwatch), four video vignettes created by the researcher, a list of 44 stranger lures, and data collection forms were used as materials for this study.

Video Vignettes

The CBVI included four video vignettes created by the principal researcher. Stages of the vignette were acted, via role-play, in the video. The setting of the recorded CBVI videos changed locations to include a parking lot, an outside area, a wooded area, and a picnic. Each video vignette lasted approximately 30 seconds. The principal researcher’s voice was recorded within the video vignette, stating the appropriate responses as they appeared in the video. The appropriate responses to the strangers were replicated from the Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar (2011) study.

Video vignettes 1 and 2 used female students as the model and included the demonstration of how to appropriately respond to strangers in the settings of the wooded area and parking lot. Video vignettes 3 and 4 used male students as the model and included the demonstration of how to appropriately respond to strangers in the outside area and the picnic/play area. Video presentation sequence (either video 1, video 2, video 3, or video 4) was randomized for each participant before the research study. The randomized sequence was repeated in that order for the participant during the intervention condition.

Dependent Variable and Response Definitions

There was one dependent variable in this study, the percentage of correct responses from participants to the stranger’s lure. This study utilized the two-step task analysis developed by Akmanoglu and Tekin-Iftar (2011). There was only one possible correct participant response during the trials, which was defined as the participant giving a verbal response (saying no) and motor response (going 4–5 steps away from the stranger) within 4 seconds of the time he/she is delivered the last word of the statement from the stranger. The possible incorrect participant responses during the trials were as follows: (a) the participant did not give a verbal response (saying no) and/or a motor response (going 4–5 steps away from the stranger) within 4 seconds of the time he/she is delivered the last word of the statement from the stranger, (b) the participant gave a verbal response (saying no) but went with the stranger, and (c) the participant walked away from the stranger (4–5 steps away) but did not give a verbal response (saying no) within 4 seconds of the time he/she is delivered the last word of the statement from the stranger. The criterion to move from intervention to maintenance condition was 100% correct response for three consecutive trials.

Percentage of Non-Overlapping Data

The percentage of non-overlapping data (PND) was calculated for the intervention phase. PND values over 90% indicate a highly effective treatment (Scruggs, Mastropieri, & Casto, 1987). Values of 70–90 are considered effective, values of 50–70 are considered questionable, and values below 50 are considered ineffective treatments.

Social Validity

Social validity data were gathered at the end of the intervention via a phone interview with the principal researcher. The social validity questionnaire was developed to measure the parental and teacher perception of the ease and effectiveness of the CBVI. Parents and teachers were interviewed after the generalization probes were administered. The questionnaire consisted of five/six yes or no questions addressing the efficacy and ease of the CBVI program and if parents perceived the program to be beneficial to their child and child’s behavioral performance.

Independent Variable

The CBVI intervention strategy for interacting with strangers was based on an adaptation of the work of Akmanoglu and Tekin-Iftar (2011); however, in the current study, participants did not receive graduated guidance nor CBI. Rather, CBVI alone was presented, via videos, with no further instruction. Four role-play probes were administered within each trial during baseline, intervention, and maintenance conditions (i.e., each trial consisted of four role-play probes). The number of correct responses (0, 1, 2, 3, 4) was divided by the total number of probes (n = 4) and multiplied by 100 to calculate a percentage.

Experimental Design

A multiple-probe across participants design was used (Kratochwill et al., 2010; Horner & Baer, 1978) to determine the effects of CBVI on the acquisition of a behavioral strategy to respond to strangers. In this design, experimental control was demonstrated when the participant responded at or near baseline levels during probe trials prior to the start of the intervention and then reached the mastery criterion only after the intervention was introduced (Tekin-Iftar & Kircaali-Iftar, 2006).

General Procedures

The experimental procedures consisted of five phases: pre-generalization, baseline, intervention, maintenance, and generalization. The special education teacher continued with daily instruction during all phases. Participants did not receive instruction on interacting with strangers, nor did they engage in role-play scenarios in their daily classroom lessons. The principal researcher conducted all of the sessions.

Pre-Generalization

One week before beginning the study, participants were taken individually to the playground with the principal researcher while the stranger was out of view. The principal researcher indicated she needed to retrieve something from the hallway and for the participant to wait outside. A stranger approached the participant on the playground and attempted to interact with the participant. All participants received the following lure in the pre-generalization condition, “Hey, I’m lost. Can you help me?” Immediately after the participant’s response to the lure, the principal researcher came back into view of the participant and took the participant inside.

During the pre-generalization condition, data on the dependent variable was taken via one probe at the playground. All participants received the pre-generalization role-play probe within the same week, with the same adult serving as the stranger. The pre-generalization probe was administered to ensure the participant did not already demonstrate the targeted behaviors before the intervention. If the participant identified the target behavior during this condition, they were removed from the study. No participants in this study identified the target behavior during this condition.

Baseline

After the pre-generalization phase, data on the dependent variable was gathered over five trials, with one trial a day for 5 days. Each trial consisted of four role-play probes. At the beginning of the first role-play probe, the principal researcher stated, “Let’s role play. I’ll be the stranger, and you be the child,” and delivered the preassigned and randomized lure from a provided list. After the participant’s response, the principal researcher stated, “Let’s role-play again” and delivered a different pre-assigned and randomized lure to the participant. This sequence was repeated for the remaining two role-play probes within that trial. The process was the same for all five baseline trials for each participant. Role-play probes administered during the baseline condition did not include any responses from the principal researcher.

Intervention

The participant with the lowest baseline score entered the intervention condition first while the other participants remained in the baseline condition. The next participant in the study moved from the baseline to intervention condition when the participant receiving intervention reached 75% correct or better (e.g., demonstrated both with a verbal and motor response within 4 seconds of the strangers lure for three out of four probes within that trial), over three consecutive trials. Before the second participant moved into intervention, one baseline trial was administered to all participants in baseline (Ledford & Gast, 2018). This trial was administered to demonstrate a continued stable trend in baseline.

The intervention was shown as a CBVI video created by the principal researcher. During each trial, the researcher had the pre-assigned CBVI video waiting for when the participant arrived. For the first intervention trial, the following script was provided: “You are going to watch a short video. You are going to begin now.” The participant then selected the play feature to access the video.

Role-Play Probes

At the immediate start of the second intervention trial, the researcher stated to the participant, “Let’s role play. I’ll be the stranger, and you be the child. Make sure you role-play each behavior you saw yesterday during the video.” The researcher and the participant stood three feet away from each other. The researcher then delivered one of the pre-assigned and randomized lures. If the participant made an error during the role-play probe, the researcher ignored the response and recorded it as incorrect. If the participant correctly identified the two steps, the researcher stated, “That’s correct, good job,” and recorded the response as correct. The researcher then stated, “Let’s role play again,” and provided a different pre-selected statement. After the four role-play probes, the participant watched the preassigned CBVI vignette. Role-playing occurred at the beginning of every intervention trial, except for the first trial, as a data collection measure. This was done to reduce the possibility that the participants immediately recalled the steps from the video and simply repeated those previously seen during CBVI.

Maintenance

After achieving the criterion for mastery, the participant entered the maintenance condition. Maintenance trials occurred again in the classroom once a week until all participants reached the maintenance condition. Maintenance trials were conducted the same manner as baseline trials and the same response definitions were used.

Generalization

Once all participants successfully reached the maintenance condition, generalization trials occurred at the participants’ playground. Similar steps occurred for the generalization condition as the pre-generalization condition. A different stranger from the pre-generalization phase was used in the generalization condition. Post-generalization probes were administered within the same week that the final participant was in the maintenance phase of the intervention. The average length of time from baseline to generalization was 5 weeks, with a range of four to 7 weeks. All participants received generalization trials within the same day. The following statement was used for the generalization trial, “Hi, come here. Can you help me find my friend?”

Reliability

Reliability data was collected from at least 50% of all experimental sessions. Interobserver agreement (IOA) and procedural reliability were calculated in the study by a trained, secondary observer. IOA data was calculated using the item-by-item method (Tekin-Iftar & Kircaali-Iftar, 2006). An agreement occurred when both the researcher and observer agreed that the correct two-step behavior (verbal and motor response) was identified/acted by the participant. A disagreement was recorded if the task was not scored identically. Within each trial, IOA was gathered on each of the four role-play probes. IOA was calculated by dividing the number of agreed items for each probe divided by the number of agreed and disagreed items and multiplied by 100. IOA was 100% across all participants. Procedural reliability was 99% across all participants.

Results

Figure 1 provides a visual display of results for participants’ responses to strangers during baseline, intervention, maintenance, and generalization conditions. Table 1 summarizes the mean scores for baseline and intervention conditions, the number of trials needed for mastery, and the PND. Results for all participants indicated a functional relationship between the developed CBVI and the student’s response to a stranger. A positive experimental effect was observed for all four participants. Data indicated that the instructional package used in the study was effective for teaching students with a mild ID how to respond to strangers and in maintaining the acquired skills over time (1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks after the training). Prior to the training, none of the participants performed the correct two-step response. After the training, students maintained and generalized the skills to a novel setting, with a novel stranger.

Figure 1.

Percent of correct responses from participants to strangers. Note: Each data point represents the average score of four probes.

Table 1.

Summary of Mean and Range Scores for Baseline and Intervention Reported in Percentages.

Participant	Baseline		Intervention	Intervention
Participant	Mean	Range	Mean	Trials	PND
Michael	0	0	57.5	11	80
Natalie	12.5	0–25	90	6	100
Terry	17.9	0–50	90	6	100
Joshua	28.1	0–50	83.3	7	88.3

Michael

During baseline, Michael did not correctly identify the correct two-step response during any of the five trials (n = 20 probes). Intervention scores had an average of 57.5%. Visual inspection of the graph shows a gradual ascending trend during intervention. Changes in the level of the dependent variable were noted during the fourth session. After the fourth trial, data began to trend positively, maintaining a higher trend than when in the baseline condition.

Michael took 11 trials to reach the mastery criterion (100% correct trials over three consecutive days). The total instructional time for Michael to reach the mastery criterion was 2 hours over 11 consecutive trials (days). Michael had 80% PND, suggesting the treatment was effective. All maintenance data were 100% correct. Generalization data was 100% correct.

Natalie

During baseline, Natalie’s scores ranged from 0% to 25% correct during the six trials (n = 24 probes), with an average of 12.5% correct. Intervention scores had an average of 90% correct. Visual inspection of the graph shows an ascending trend during intervention. Data demonstrated a clear and immediate level and trend change.

Natalie took six trials to reach the mastery criterion. The total instructional time for Natalie to reach the mastery criterion was 55 minutes over six consecutive trials (days). Natalie had 100% PND, indicating that the intervention was highly effective for her. Maintenance and generalization data were 100% correct.

Terry

During baseline, Terry’s scores ranged from 0% to 50% correct during the seven trials (n = 28 probes), with an average of 17.9% correct. Intervention scores had an average of 90% correct. Visual inspection of the graph shows an ascending trend during intervention. Data demonstrated a clear and immediate level and trend change.

Terry took six trials to reach the mastery criterion. The total instructional time for Terry to reach the mastery criterion was 60 minutes over six consecutive trials (days). Terry had 100% PND, indicating that the intervention was highly effective. Maintenance and generalization data were 100% correct.

Joshua

Joshua’s scores ranged from 0% to 50% during baseline, with an average of 28.1% correct during the eight trials (n = 32 probes). Intervention scores had an average of 83.3% correct. Visual inspection of the graph shows an ascending trend during intervention. Data demonstrated a clear and immediate level and trend change.

Joshua took seven trials to reach the mastery criterion. The total instructional time for Joshua to reach the mastery criterion was 60 minutes over seven consecutive trials (days). Joshua had 83.33% PND, suggesting the treatment was effective. Maintenance and generalization data were 100% correct.

Social Validity

The parents of participants (n = 4) reported positive opinions of the research study. All four parents responded yes to the five questions, indicating they felt their child enjoyed and benefited from the intervention, that the intervention improved their interactions with strangers, and that their child would benefit from continued instruction in stranger awareness. All four parents also reported that knowing how to respond to a stranger is important.

The special education teachers of the participants (n = 2) reported positive opinions of the research study. Both teachers reported that the intervention appeared easy to implement, as they observed the researcher and participant during the intervention and saw how quickly the intervention was implemented. Both teachers reported that they felt the students enjoyed the intervention and that the intervention was helpful. Teachers also reported that this was something they will likely implement in the future and that stranger awareness is an important skill to have.

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to examine the effectiveness of an instructional program consisting of CBVI for teaching students with a mild ID how to respond to strangers and extend the limited research on the effectiveness of utilizing only CBVI to teach stranger awareness to young students with a mild ID. Results of this study indicated a functional relationship between the CBVI consisting of video role-play and the acquisition of a two-step behavioral strategy to interact with strangers. During intervention, all students increased their scores from baseline and did so relatively quickly. The participants' total instructional time ranged from approximately 50–120 minutes.

All participants had 100% correct responses over all maintenance trials. Michael, who took the longest instructional time to acquire the skill, demonstrated maintenance for up to 5 weeks post-intervention. Additionally, all four participants could generalize the acquired strategy to a different setting with a novel stranger. Teachers and parents reported the intervention was socially important and valuable.

The results suggest this intervention can be a quick and efficient way to teach appropriate responses to strangers. These results resemble those from previous studies that demonstrated the rapid acquisition of safety and social skills using CBVI (Bell, 2021). No additional instructional methodologies, feedback, or teaching were provided to the participants aside from the direct CBVI, suggesting that CBVI by itself can be utilized to teach safe responses to strangers.

Previous research using CBVI to teach danger and social skills, including the Akmanoglu & Tekin-Iftar (2011) study for which the current study used as a framework, included CBVI and an additional component for skill acquisition. Other research has incorporated CBVI and additional components, such as direct and individual instruction (Mechling et al., 2014), peer modeling (Mousa Al-Salahat, 2016), CBI (Godish, Miltenberger & Sanchez, 2017), or feedback (Goo et al., 2016). The current results expand the literature suggesting using only CBVI to teach safety skills can be an effective intervention (Bell, 2021).

The participants in this study were also younger (ages 11–13) than most students included in CBVI research. Most CBVI research is dedicated to transition-age children (Trevor et al., 2021). This research suggests that transition planning at a young age can be incorporated into a child’s instructional programming with minimal time taken from academic instruction, as the average length of each CBVI session was 10 minutes per day. With teachers being required to teach at a fast pace and most instructional time focused on academics (Merritt, 2016), this intervention appeals to both teachers and students. Teachers report needing quick, easy, and effective instructional programs that require minimal planning and preparation on their end, and the results of this research fit those demands (Hopkins & Dymond, 2020).

In addition, previous research using CBVI often focuses on students with severe disabilities or autism as participants (Akmanoglu, Yanardag, & Batu, 2014; Olcay-Gul, 2016). The current research expands the effectiveness of CBVI for students with a mild ID. When teaching social and safety skills to students, students with autism are often included as participants. However, students with a mild ID also have communication and social impairments and can benefit from safety and social skills instruction (Hetzroni & Banin, 2017).

The current study also extends the research that suggests CBVI alone, without CBI, can be an effective means of instruction for students with disabilities. With health and logistical barriers to implementing CBI, the current intervention is a promising solution to address barriers out of a teacher’s control. Having an intervention that requires limited technology, space, and resources for implementation might be appealing to school staff. Incorporating CBVI within part of the transition planning process is also a convenient way to teach transition skills.

With teachers reporting limited time in the day to plan and prepare lessons, having a quick, easy, and effective intervention that can be repeatedly implemented is valuable. Both teachers responded positively to the intervention questionnaire, indicating that their students enjoyed the activity and benefitted from participating in the study. Equally as important, both teachers felt the intervention would be easy to implement and something they could incorporate with all their students with differing disabilities. Both teachers noticed improvements in their students’ ability to respond to strangers

Additionally, all four parents who responded to the interview questionnaire reported feeling that their children benefitted from being part of the study. Not only did parents report that the intervention helped improve their child’s interaction with strangers, some parents indicated their child had open conversations with them about the importance of stranger safety and not talking to strangers.

Limitations

Several factors limited this study. First, due to the small sample size, the findings of this study might be hard to generalize to other populations, including those with lower cognitive abilities. Second, the current worldwide COVID-19 pandemic limited these results, as students who opted for virtual instruction were not included in this research. The research study was designed to be implemented via face-to-face with participant and researcher interaction important for the role-play data collection measures.

Third, the principal researcher also served as the stranger for the daily role-play probe sessions. The familiarity with the researcher could have impacted the participants' responses, as they might not have viewed the researcher as someone dangerous. Lastly, parents and teachers were interviewed to gather social validity data. Social validity responses were not anonymous; therefore, it is difficult to rule out the Hawthorne Effect. Also, the parents did not observe the intervention taking place; therefore, their responses to the social validity questions were based on reports from their children and observations of their behaviors at home. Only two teachers represented the results from the social validity questionnaire, which might make it difficult to generalize their responses and perceptions to other individuals. More individuals responding to the questionnaire might strengthen the social validity findings.

Implications for Practice and Future Research

Based on the findings of this study, in conjunction with previous research studies, it appears that CBVI is a powerful tool to teach students with a mild ID how to respond to strangers with two simple steps, saying no and walking away. The current results expand the findings from Bell (2021), who used only CBVI to teach students with autism how to respond to strangers. These results suggest that CBVI is a valuable instructional tool for students of varying disabilities and ages. The current research also used only CBVI, which was time and cost-efficient and included few staffing and logistical requirements.

The preparation time, intervention session length (approximately 5 minutes), and logistical requirements make this research appealing to teachers and staff who are already burdened with teacher preparation (Hopkins & Dymond, 2020) and content recovery due to learning loss from COVID-19 (Kuhfeld et al., 2021). This intervention could be utilized during social-emotional learning activities or when direct instruction is provided to other students in small groups. The intervention can be created and implemented by a classroom teacher, as the only requirement from the classroom teacher would be to create the videos and engage in role-playing.

The creation of the videos, recruitment of students for video-modeling, and scouting of locations for the videos is the most time-consuming piece of the intervention. Once the videos are created, they can be utilized for years. The videos themselves take anywhere from one to 5 minutes to create but can be replayed in the classroom and be shown to children of all ages. The creation of the videos is considered a minor requirement compared to the potential benefits of saving a child’s life from a stranger. In addition, the students themselves could easily be taught to retrieve the videos and play them without teacher support. To save more valuable instruction time, the intervention could also occur in a small group instructional arrangement.

Students with a mild ID who are trying to earn a high school diploma often have limited time in their schedules for CBI or extensive transition planning. This study demonstrates that even quick interventions requiring a limited number of resources can be beneficial for teaching stranger awareness. CBVI can be incorporated rather quickly into a student’s daily routine, requiring 5 minutes or less of academic time per day. Progress monitoring of these skills can also be done with quick and simple observations throughout the school or via teacher checklists and interviews. While this intervention aimed to teach stranger awareness, conclusions can be drawn from these results and previous studies that other social, safety, and community-referenced skills can be taught in the same way (Boles et al., 2019; Gibson et al., 2017; Mechling & O’Brien, 2010).

The current study provides support for transition planning to begin at an earlier age than what is federally mandated. The current research supports the movement for transition planning to begin during the early teenage years. Educators must not wait until children are 16 to consider the transition from school to post-secondary opportunities. While most educators see the value in early transition planning (Carter, Brock, & Trainor, 2014), more informal intervention opportunities should be provided before formal transition planning, such as those presented by the current research. Expanding the idea of transition planning to include social skills training, community experiences, and safety skills instruction for students in elementary school will be helpful across the lifespan.

Future studies utilizing CBVI to teach appropriate responses to strangers should use differing and larger populations. Since this is the only known study utilizing only CBVI to teach students with a mild ID (ages 11–13) appropriate responses to strangers, it would be useful to generalize these results to students of differing disabilities, including participants with autism, learning disorders, ADHD, and those with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities. It would be important to utilize students of the same age (ages 11–13) to demonstrate generalization across disabilities and ages.

Future research should also consider additional components of the CBVI to include more dialogue or more steps involved in correct responses (i.e., more verbal responses and motor responses than utilized in the current study). Perhaps future research could include a discussion session after the role-play probes, in which the participant and researcher discuss why it is not safe to go with strangers.

Lastly, future research should continue to explore using only CBVI to teach various skills. Other social skills, including initiating and sustaining conversations, saying thank you, comforting a friend, or even other safety skills such as calling 911 in an emergency, could easily be taught using only CBVI.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

Chelsey R. Simmons

Author Biographies

Dr. Chelsey R. Simmons is currently employed at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. His overall research interests involve promoting positive outcomes for middle school students with disabilities.

Dr. Rhonda D. Miller is currently employed at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. His overall research interests involve promoting positive outcomes for middle school students with disabilities.

Dr. Nicole M. Uphold is currently employed at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. His overall research interests involve promoting positive outcomes for middle school students with disabilities.

Dr. Suzanne E. Horn is currently employed at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, South Carolina. His overall research interests involve promoting positive outcomes for middle school students with disabilities.

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