Using digital video to review and assess positive behaviour

introduction

In today’s session at Dedridge Autism Base, Kathleen Togneri and Linda Berrie are working with three autistic boys. First, Linda uses a digital video camera to record the pupils’ interaction in the soft play area. Then she uses iMovie to edit the footage, keeping only the positive interactions to show to two of the boys. The boys discuss what they did and how well they followed instructions during the activity. This session is also filmed by Linda and she reviews it later with Kathleen as part of her ongoing practice assessment.

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Teacher profile

Kathleen Togneri has been teaching for 24 years. She is currently teaching P1-P7 pupils at Dedridge Autism Base. She is the principal teacher and also autism outreach teacher for nursery and primary schools in the local authority.

Kathleen attended Elite training, which introduced her to the use of digital video cameras and iMovie. She is very interested in the use of ICT and likes to ‘play around’ with computers and the digital camera. Kathleen says she has learned a lot from this ‘trial and error’ approach.

Kathleen is a Video Interaction Guidance (VIG) supervisor. The aim of this programme is to improve communication and social skills using video. VIG practitioners work closely with pupils, parents and staff to capture good positive interactions on video. Linda, the nursery nurse, has just completed her training and is also a VIG practitioner.

School profile

Dedridge Autism Base is part of Dedridge Primary School. The school is based in the village of Livingston, West Lothian, and is housed in a modern one-storey building.

There are 270 pupils in the school, 27 of whom are recorded as having special educational needs; 48 have free school lunches. There is one pupil with English as a second language.

There are two computers, 24 iBooks and 10 iMacs in the school, all connected in a local network; there is a dedicated ICT room. ICT training is available for staff, with courses such as the Learning Schools Programme – a venture jointly run by the Open University and RM as part of New Opportunities Fund (NOF) training.