Abstract
Strategies that promote the independent demonstration of skills across educational settings are critical for improving the accessibility of general education settings for students with ASD. This research assessed the impact of an individual work system on the accuracy of task completion and level of adult prompting across educational setting. Student accuracy and adult prompting were measured in both special and general education settings during academic work periods. Work systems, an element of structured teaching developed by Division TEACCH, are organized sets of visual information that inform a student about participation in work areas. A multiple-probe-across-participants design was used to evaluate the effects of the individual work systems. All participants demonstrated increased accuracy yet required less adult support across special and general education settings. Results were maintained when measured during a 1-month follow-up probe.
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This research was completed as part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation at Indiana University.
Appendix
Appendix
Social Validity Measure for Staff–Pre
Please circle the statement that most closely describes your reactions to the following statements.
1. Independence is one area where my student needs to improve | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
2. Increasing my student’s accuracy when completing tasks is an important goal | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
3. My student uses skills in more than one setting | ||||
OFTEN | SOMETIMES | NEUTRAL | RARELY | NEVER |
4. My student can be taught a way to work more independently | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
5. My student demonstrates off-task behavior | ||||
OFTEN | SOMETIMES | NEUTRAL | RARELY | NEVER |
6. The ability to generalize skills to other settings is an important goal for my student | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
7. My student works without prompts | ||||
OFTEN | SOMETIMES | NEUTRAL | RARELY | NEVER |
Social Validity Measure for Staff–Post
1. My student’s independence increased with his participation in this study | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
2. My student’s off-task behavior was reduced | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
3. My student was able to generalize skills across setting | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
4. When my student became more independent, teacher prompts decreased | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
5. My student became more accurate in his work | ||||
AGREE | SLIGHTLY AGREE | NEUTRAL | SLIGHTLY DISAGREE | DISAGREE |
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Hume, K., Plavnick, J. & Odom, S.L. Promoting Task Accuracy and Independence in Students with Autism Across Educational Setting Through the Use of Individual Work Systems. J Autism Dev Disord 42, 2084–2099 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1457-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-012-1457-4