Just in time for National Autism Awareness Month, a team at “Data Makes the Difference” and mHealth researcher Dr. Michael Kelley have released what’s being called a “new form of video self-modeling therapy for children with autism.”

The therapy is being introduced by way of an app called Ther-Ad for Autism (Therapeutic Advertisements for Autism).

Ther-Ad, which runs on Apple’s iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad, is designed to be an evidence-based therapy that will also improve the efficiency of applied behavioral analysis.

“Numerous research studies,” the app makers state in a press release, “have shown that video self-modeling presented by a parent, teacher or behavior professional may help children with autism and related disorders to increase desired behaviors and to consequently decrease problem behaviors at the same time.”

According to the app’s advertised description, ther-Ad works by allowing a student to watch motivating media, such as a movie, that is occasionally paused at an interval. A short self-modeling video is then presented to the student who watches the clip of himself engaging in a behavior that parents or instructors wish to encourage. After the video self-modeling clip finishes, the student is automatically reinforced by being returned to the motivating movie.

“Modeling is one of the established treatments listed in the National Autism Center’s National Standards Project,” said Liz Maher, MEd, BCBA, and co-owner of Data Makes the Difference. “So it’s very exciting to be able to offer an app that uses this type of evidence-based practice.”

As a mHealth application, the development team believes the features of Ther-Ad will generate larger effects on autism, with a much broader range of clients, and do so efficiently, relative to other forms of video self-modeling therapies.

To learn more about the app, check out Ther-Ad’s download page on iTunes.