Comparing Pictures and Videos for Teaching Action Labels to Children With Communication Delays

Children with communication delays often display difficulties labeling stimuli in their environment, particularly related to actions. Research supports direct instruction with video and picture stimuli for increasing children’s action labeling repertoires; however, no studies have compared which type of stimuli results in more efficient, maintainable, or generalizable learning for children with communication delays. In the present study, we used a single-case adapted alternating treatments design to compare picture and video stimuli for teaching action labels to three preschool-aged children receiving special education services in a self-contained setting for communication delays. Results indicate that all children acquired target action labels using both picture and video stimuli, and all children generalized some targets to in vivo stimuli without direct instruction. Efficiency, generalization, and maintenance measures varied across children. Implications and future directions for researchers and practitioners are provided.