Effects of the Picture Exchange Communication System and speech-generating devices were larger than those for other picture-based systems, though picture-based systems did have small effects.

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Educators and school librarians today are facing new challenges that go well beyond the traditional expectation of teaching reading, writing, and arithmetic. These challenges take many forms. Many students enter the educational system lacking the necessary social, emotional, and academic prerequisites to be successful. Educational settings are becoming more diverse with students from varying cultural backgrounds and with disparate learning abilities. In addition, federal laws are demanding increasingly higher standards and accountability of the teaching profession. With such enormous societal impediments, it is essential that school personnel today find approaches that are relevant to each student's unique needs.

Visually based interventions such as video modeling have been demonstrated to be effective with students with autism spectrum disorder. This approach has wide utility, is appropriate for use with students of a range of ages and abilities, promotes independent functioning, and can be used to address numerous learner objectives, including behavioral, self-help, communication, and social objectives. What are the components of video modeling? What's the best way to implement video modeling with students? Do the techniques differ for students of different ages and abilities?Recently, the number of people diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has increased drastically, most recently as common as 1 in 91 (Kogan et al., 2009), although impacts range from severe to mild impairment (Rice et al., 2007). ASD is common across races, ethnicities, and social groups and is four times more common in boys than in girls (Rice et al., 2007). Further, ASD, particularly in those with moderate or severe autism, often cooccurs with developmental delays, emotional and behavioral disorders, and attention deficits (Kogan et al., 2009). According to current legislation (i.e., No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Individuals With Disabilities Education Act), instructional strategies used in classrooms must be scientifically research-based (Simpson, Myles, & Ganz, 2008). Visually based instruction such as video modeling, a researchsupported intervention, may be more appropriate and effective than other approaches for students with ASD for a number of reasons (Bellini & Akullian, 2007;Delano, 2007b).

In the past decade, major policy changes and educational reform have compelled school districts and educators to select and design educational programming based on scientific evidence. Yet, the gap between research and practice in special education continues to exist (Cook & Schirmer, 2006;Jones, 2009). This research-to-practice gap not only affects the quality of the programming received by students with disabilities but also ultimately affects student outcomes (Smith, Tutor, & Cook, 2010).