The effects of self-operated auditory prompts on the fluency of task performance of persons with moderate and severe handicaps

The utility of a self-operated auditory prompting procedure for improving task fluency of daily living skills of individuals with moderate and severe handicaps was investigated. Participants aged 32 and 44 residing in a small group home used a Walkman-type device which delivered pre-recorded auditory prompts. Four phases were employed, including (a) task assessment, (trainer-delivered prompts), (b) baseline (no prompts), (c) training to use the device, and (d) intervention (device delivered cues). Percentage of steps of the task analysis, task duration, frequency of intervals with trainer prompts directed to participants, and frequency of intervals with task interfering behaviors were measured. For one participant the intervention successfully increased her rate of performance on both tasks. Mixed results were evident for the second participant; while the auditory prompting increased performance over baseline, a withdrawal of prompts failed to reduce performance to baseline levels. In addition, spontaneous increases in a second task were seen concurrent with increases in the first.