Association for Behavior Analysis International

Adolescents with autism and severe developmental disabilities may encounter a wide range of challenges that affect their quality of life and safety as they transition to adulthood. Interventionists and behavior change agents are responsible for helping individuals with disabilities enhance their quality of life by increasing their daily living, functional, and vocational skills as well as helping them remain safe. The four data-based presentations in this symposium examine the use of various technology-based interventions for improving outcomes of adolescents and adults with significant disabilities. Two of the research studies examine the comparative effects of picture and video prompting to teach vocational skills to young adults with ASD in the first presentation and to adolescents with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities in the second presentation. The third presentation examines the effectiveness of a computer-based transition skills program, Teachtown®, on functional and daily living skills for adolescents with severe intellectual disability. The fourth presentation examines the effectiveness of using virtual reality technology to train law enforcement to recognize and effectively deescalate challenging behavior of individuals with autism.

Teaching a wide range of skills to individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) during the early years is critical as those skills will promote a successful transition to adult life. Instructional strategies including video prompting and activity schedules have been shown to be effective in teaching various skills to individuals with developmental disabilities. However, the comparative effectiveness of these interventions on teaching vocational skills remains unknown. Therefore, the purpose of the study was to assess the comparative effects of a picture activity schedule and video prompting when teaching vocational skills to young adults diagnosed with ASD. Additionally, efficiency of these interventions across number of sessions to mastery and the number of prompts provided was investigated. Generalized responding across a novel task was also assessed. Video prompting was found to be slightly more effective than picture activity schedule for three participants in completing a task independently. Meanwhile, picture activity schedule was effective for one participant.

Students with severe disabilities deserve evidence-based instruction in marketable job skills that prepare them for employment. Current literature supports the use of both video prompts and picture prompts to teach job skills to this population. Questions remain, however, about which prompt type is more effective for teaching job skills. This study compares the effects of video prompts and picture prompts on the performance of vocational tasks by students with severe disabilities to determine which prompt type is more effective and efficient. Additionally, students’ preference for picture or video prompts are assessed to determine whether their preference corresponds to the most effective prompt type.

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) mandates that students with an individualized education program (IEP) have transition services in effect by the time the student turns 16 years old. The computer-based program, TeachTown Transition to Adulthood, uses evidence-based practices to teach a wide range of skills, including daily living and functional skills, to students with disabilities. The program combines video modeling, computer-based lessons, visual task analyses, prompting, data collection, and a variety of visual supports. This study examines the effectiveness of TeachTown Transition to Adulthood on transition skills for six high school students with severe developmental disabilities. A multiple baseline across skills design demonstrated the TeachTown curriculum was functionally related to participants’ improvement and mastery of individualized functional skills.