Effectiveness of a multimedia software for teaching safety skills to children with autism spectrum disorder

The purpose of this study was to examine effectiveness of the OtizmA mobile application which was designed within this study as an instructive multimedia software for teaching a chained safety skill which contains emergency phone numbers (110-112-155) to children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The social validity data was collected through subjective assessment and social comparison. The study was conducted with a total of 3 participants, one female and two males, with ASD between the ages of 7-8 years. The multiple probe design with probe sessions across participants was used in this study. The findings showed that OtizmA mobile application/multimedia software was effective on teaching the targeted chained skill of emergency phone numbers to the children with ASD. Furthermore, the target skill was maintained after 1, 2 and 4 weeks from the last intervention session and generalized with different people and materials. The findings of social validity based on subjective assessment indicated that opinions of the parents about the study were positive. Also the social comparison data showed that before the intervention, participants performed at a lower level of performance compared to their peers but at the end of the research their performance reached at a similar level. Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), Safety skills, Mobile applications, Instructive multimedia software, OtizmA.