Promoting Independent Task Performance by Persons with Severe Developmental Disabilities through a New Computer-Aided System

Abstract

This study involved two experiments. In Experiment 1, a computer-aided system for promoting task performance by 6 persons with severe developmental disabilities was compared with a card system. The computer-aided system was portable and presented pictorial task instructions (one instruction per step) and prompts. In Experiment 2, the same systemwas used, but the number of instruction occasions was reduced. In one condition, the system presented all the instructions used in Experiment 1 but mostly in clusters rather than individually. In another, the system presented part of the Experiment 1 instructions. Three Experiment 1 participants also served in Experiment 2. Experiment 1 results indicated all 6 participants had higher percentages of correct steps with the computer system and preferred it to the card system. Experiment 2 results indicated that the condition in which the instructions were clusteredwas more effective for maintaining correct task performance. Implications of the findings were discussed.