Developing a Toothbrushing Visual Pedagogy (TBVP) for Preschool Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

Visual pedagogy and social stories have been widely used to assist children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in learning various skills. A toothbrushing visual pedagogy (TBVP) was developed adapting existing toothbrushing social stories for children with ASD. This TBVP consists of 13 toothbrushing steps with scripts describing the toothbrushing technique. To evaluate its feasibility, a review panel was formed to provide feedback on the TBVP and three other published toothbrushing social stories. Effectiveness of the TBVP was further evaluated among 119 preschool children with ASD with significant improvements in toothbrushing skills observed at 3-month and 6-month follow-ups. It is concluded that TBVP is a feasible and an effective educational means that assists children with ASD in learning toothbrushing skills.