THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POINT-OF-VIEW VIDEO MODELING IN TEACHING SOCIAL INITIATION SKILLS TO CHILDREN WITH AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDERS

Deficits in social communication and interaction have been identified as distinguishing impairments for individuals with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). As a pivotal skill, the successful development of social communication and interaction in individuals with ASD is a lifelong objective. Point-of-view video modeling has the potential to address these deficits. This type of video involves filming the completion of a targeted skill or behavior from a first-person perspective. By presenting only what a person might see from his or her viewpoint, it has been identified to be more effective in limiting irrelevant stimuli by providing a clear frame of reference to facilitate imitation. The current study investigated the use of point-of-view video modeling in teaching social initiations (e.g., greetings). Using a multiple baseline across participants design, five kindergarten participants were taught social initiations using point-of-view video modeling and video priming. Immediately before and after viewing the entire point-of-view video model, the participants were evaluated on their social initiations with a trained, typically developing peer serving as a communication partner. Specifically, the social initiations involved participants’ abilities to shift their attention toward the peer who entered the classroom, maintain attention toward the peer, and engage in an appropriate social initiation (e.g., hi, hello). Both generalization and maintenance were tested. Overall, the data suggest point-of-view video modeling is an effective intervention for increasing social initiations in young students with ASD. However, retraining was necessary for acquisition of skills in the classroom environment. Generalization in novel environments and with a novel communication partner, and generalization to other social initiation skills was limited. Additionally, maintenance of gained social initiation skills only occurred in the intervention room. Despite the limitations of the study and variable results, there are a number of implications moving forward for both practitioners and future researchers examining point-of-view modeling and its potential impact on the social initiation skills of individuals with ASD.

Measurement and Simulation of Suppression Effects in a Buoyant Turbulent Line Fire

An experimental and numerical study of turbulent fire suppression is presented. For this work, a novel and canonical facility has been developed, featuring a buoyant, turbulent, methane or propane-fueled diffusion flame suppressed via either nitrogen dilution of the oxidizer or application of a fine water mist. Flames are stabilized on a slot burner surrounded by a co-flowing oxidizer, which allows controlled delivery of either suppressant to achieve a range of conditions from complete combustion through partial and total flame quenching. A minimal supply of pure oxygen is optionally applied along the burner to provide a strengthened flame base that resists liftoff extinction and permits the study of substantially weakened turbulent flames. The carefully designed facility features well-characterized inlet and boundary conditions that are especially amenable to numerical simulation. Non-intrusive diagnostics provide detailed measurements of suppression behavior, yielding insight into the governing suppression processes, and aiding the development and validation of advanced suppression models. Diagnostics include oxidizer composition analysis to determine suppression potential, flame imaging to quantify visible flame structure, luminous and radiative emissions measurements to assess sooting propensity and heat losses, and species-based calorimetry to evaluate global heat release and combustion efficiency. The studied flames experience notable suppression effects, including transition in color from bright yellow to dim blue, expansion in flame height and structural intermittency, and reduction in radiative heat emissions. Still, measurements indicate that the combustion efficiency remains close to unity, and only near the extinction limit do the flames experience an abrupt transition from nearly complete combustion to total extinguishment. Measurements are compared with large eddy simulation results obtained using the Fire Dynamics Simulator, an open-source computational fluid dynamics software package. Comparisons of experimental and simulated results are used to evaluate the performance of available models in predicting fire suppression. Simulations in the present configuration highlight the issue of spurious reignition that is permitted by the classical eddy-dissipation concept for modeling turbulent combustion. To address this issue, simple treatments to prevent spurious reignition are developed and implemented. Simulations incorporating these treatments are shown to produce excellent agreement with the experimentally measured data, including the global combustion efficiency.

The Role of Attachment in a Social Cognitive Model of Social Domain Satisfaction in College Students

The study examined a modified social cognitive model of domain satisfaction (Lent, 2004). In addition to social cognitive variables and trait positive affect, the model included two aspects of adult attachment, attachment anxiety and avoidance. The study extended recent research on well-being and satisfaction in academic, work, and social domains. The adjusted model was tested in a sample of 454 college students, in order to determine the role of adult attachment variables in explaining social satisfaction, above and beyond the direct and indirect effects of trait positive affect. Confirmatory factor analysis found support for 8 correlated factors in the modified model: social domain satisfaction, positive affect, attachment avoidance, attachment anxiety, social support, social self-efficacy, social outcome expectations, and social goal progress. Three alternative structural models were tested to account for the ways in which attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance might relate to social satisfaction. Results of model testing provided support for a model in which attachment avoidance produced only an indirect path to social satisfaction via self-efficacy and social support. Positive affect, avoidance, social support, social self-efficacy, and goal progress each produced significant direct or indirect paths to social domain satisfaction, though attachment anxiety and social outcome expectations did not contribute to the predictive model. Implications of the findings regarding the modified social cognitive model of social domain satisfaction were discussed.