Association for Behavior Analysis International

Often individuals with disabilities continuously rely on prompts or reminders from others (e.g., therapists, parents, teachers) to complete everyday tasks. When their access to services in schools ends, so do the prompts they have come to rely on. With technology being an integral part of society’s everyday life, it is logical to teach individuals with disabilities to rely on technology as a necessary support when presented with situations in which more information is needed. Individuals with disabilities need to learn how to self-manage, including self-prompting and self-instructing tasks throughout their day-to-day activities to increase their employability, independence, quality of life, and overall self-determination skills. There is an emerging amount of literature to support the use of self-management for individuals with disabilities, specifically with mobile technology. This presentation will include data from two recent single case design studies from two different research teams. The first study used an exercise application including video models, prompting, and reminders delivered via remote instruction (i.e., Zoom) to improve exercise behaviors and increase physical activity. The second study used a scheduling application with embedded visuals and video models to increase vocational task completion and decrease reliance on adults supports.

Background knowledge of single case design and visual analysis

Using a multiple baseline across participants design, the current study explored a behavioral intervention package (i.e., ExerciseBuddy app with video models, prompting, and reminders of reinforcement) to assess acquisition of the exercises (i.e., percent of intervals completed independently) when delivered remotely. Additionally, during intervention, participants were taught to review task analyses of exercises (i.e., written or pictures) to determine if they completed exercises correctly. The results indicate participant independence in performing the exercises increased during intervention from baseline. Additionally, participant and researcher agreement on if exercises were completed correctly averaged 80% or higher during intervention. Independence in performing the exercises and agreement on performance was more variable during generalization when new exercises were presented and the behavioral intervention package components were removed. Implications and future research focused on increasing access and fitness programming for individuals with autism using remote instruction and promoting self-determination in fitness programming will be discussed.

The purpose of this study was to compare the differential effects of mobile assistive technology loaded with visual activity schedules (VAS; pictures alone) compared to video activity schedules (VidAS; pictures linked to video models) loaded on the Choiceworks app to promote vocational independence and decreased reliance on adult supports for adolescents and adults with intellectual disability, with and without autism. Seven single-case multitreatment designs were used to assess differential effects between the two interventions when participants completed various vocational tasks (e.g., cosmetology, vet tech, gift shop). All participants were able to perform some of the task steps independently with both VAS and VidAS but demonstrated a greater increase in independence with self-instruction using VidAS than when only given VAS. Results suggest that incorporating VidAS into mobile AT can increase independence while decreasing reliance on additional adult support, suggesting that this could be a reasonable accommodation in school, work, and community settings.