Evaluation of a Personal Digital Assistant as a Self-Prompting Device for Increasing Multi-Step Task Completion by Students With Moderate Intellectual Disabilities
By Mechling, Linda C.; Gast, David L.; Seid, Nicole H.; Education and Training in Autism and Developmental Disabilities, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 422-439Publication Date: September 2010
Study evaluated the effectiveness of the use of a personal digital assistant (PDA) with picture, auditory, and video prompts as a portable self-prompting device to facilitate independent task performance by high school age students with moderate intellectual disabilities. Participants were 3 students with moderate intellectual disabilities aged 15 years, 11 months to 17 years, 9 months, one of whom was male. A multiple probe design was used across 3 cooking recipes and replicated across the 3 participants to evaluate the effectiveness of the self-prompting program. The PDA was operated individually by each student and used to deliver all prompts for completing the cooking tasks. Three cooking recipes were selected sampling 3 modes of food preparation: stove top, microwave, and toaster oven. Recipes ranged from 19 to 25 steps and required use of a range of stimuli, including jars, measuring cups, and digital timer, and necessitated responses such as stirring, pouring, and holding. One cooking task was performed during each session, and one session was conducted per day, 3 to 4 days a week. Results showed that students were able to use the PDA independently to self-prompt completion of the 3 cooking recipes without the need for external adult prompting, to maintain use of the device over time, and to self-adjust the levels of prompts used within and across recipes.
Published by: Council for Exceptional Children (Website:http://www.cec.sped.org)
Division on Developmental Disabilities (DDD) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) (Web Site: http://www.dddcec.org )
