Priming with Intrinsically Motivating Video to Improve Inclusive Reading Task Performance

Greg Lyons

Within the context of a multiple baseline design across participants, this study sought to, a) expand upon priming techniques, and b) better understand the underlying mechanism involved when priming. Specifically, the purpose of this study was to determine if an indirectly related, yet intrinsically reinforcing stimulus, in this case a video that corresponded to the academic content, would improve the academic responding of children with autism during inclusive reading tasks. Preliminary results from the present study's first participant, a fully-included 3 rd-grader, indicated that priming a child with a video that corresponded to the academic content (e.g., a video with the same title and general story as the book being read in class) resulted in improvements in academic responding and decreases in disruptive behaviors during inclusive reading tasks. Implications for using this modified priming approach are also discussed in terms of added clinical benefits and theoretical significance.