Effectiveness of two visual-pedagogical methods for toothbrushing skills in autistic children: A randomized clinical trial.

Researchers tested two ways to teach 64 autistic children (ages 10-12) how to brush their teeth independently: watching videos or using poster guides. Both methods helped children improve their toothbrushing skills over 3 months. Video teaching worked slightly better than posters, with children becoming more independent at brushing their teeth. Both approaches can help autistic children learn important daily hygiene skills.

This randomized controlled trial compared video modeling versus educational posters for teaching toothbrushing skills to 64 autistic children aged 10-12 years with mild autism. Children were randomly assigned to either video or poster groups and assessed on 20 toothbrushing steps across five stages using a 5-point autonomy scale. Both interventions significantly improved toothbrushing skills at 1 and 3-month follow-ups. Video modeling demonstrated superior effectiveness with higher autonomy scores (4.37±0.43) compared to posters (4.11±0.49) at 3 months (p=.03), though the effect size was small (η=.07).

The study utilized the FONES toothbrushing method and employed appropriate statistical analyses including repeated-measures ANOVA.

Both visual pedagogy methods can effectively teach toothbrushing skills to autistic children. Video modeling shows slight superiority but both approaches are clinically viable. Practitioners can choose based on resources and individual child preferences. These methods support development of crucial daily living skills and oral hygiene independence.

Small sample size of 64 participants limits generalizability. Study focused only on children with mild autism aged 10-12 years. Short follow-up period of 3 months may not capture long-term skill retention. Effect size was small, questioning practical significance of video modeling superiority.

This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of two visual pedagogy methods, video modeling and educational posters, on improving tooth-brushing autonomy in 10-12-year-old children with mild autism. Sixty-four autistic children were randomly assigned to either the video or poster groups using the Rand function in Excel. Toothbrushing skills were divided into five stages: preparation, buccal, occlusal, lingual surfaces, and the end. These five stages comprised a total of 20 steps, with each step scored from 1 (not done at all) to 5 (done independently).

The final score was calculated by averaging the scores of the five stages. The FONES method of toothbrushing was used for training. Follow-up assessments were conducted after 1 and 3 months. The data were analyzed using SPSS V26, including t-tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, and repeated-measures ANOVA.

After 3 months, there were significant improvements in autonomy scores for both groups, with the video group showing greater benefits (4.37 ± 0.43) compared to the poster group (4.11 ± 0.49) (p = .03), with an effect size of η = .07. Both video and poster methods were effective in improving tooth-brushing skills, but video modeling was associated with a higher total autonomy score.