a comparison of procedures in teaching self-help skills:...

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, VoL 19, No. 1, 1989

A Comparison of Procedures in Teaching Self-Help Skills: Increasing Assistance, Time Delay, and Observational Learning

Sharon F. Schoen La Salle University

Eileen O. Sivil Drew Development Center

The effectiveness and efficiency o f two prompt-fading procedures were com- pared during the instruction o f two self-help skills to four pairs o f develop- mentally delayed preschoolers. In addition, the effect o f observational learning was examined. Within a combined multiple probe and parallel treatments design, one member o f each pair received direct instruction on the two skills. One skill was taught using an increasing assistance prompting procedure and the other skill was taught using a constant time delay procedure. The other member o f the pair was prompted to observe the instruction, but was not taught directly. Reliability o f scoring and procedural integrity were estimated, and social validity o f outcomes considered. Findings indicated a slight but discernible advantage o f using the time delay procedure rather than the in- creasing assistance procedure to teach complex, chained-response tasks. Fur- ther, considerable learning resulted solely from the observation o f instruction.

A growing body of literature has developed which suggests that precise ar- rangement of the stimuli in the child's learning environment can preclude or reduce errors in learning (Etzel & Le Blanc, 1979). Following initial demon- strations of errorless or near-errorless responding for discrimination tasks (e.g., Sidman & Stoddard, 1967; Terrace, 1963), numerous applications of various stimulus control procedures emerged. Researchers facilitated the de-

57

0162-3257/89/0300-0057506.00/0 �9 1989 Plenum Publishing Corporation

58 Schoen and Sivil

velopment of academic (Csapo, 1981; Schilmoeller, Schilmoeller, Etzel, & Le Blanc, 1977), vocational (Cuvo, Leaf, & Borakove, 1978; Zane, Walls, & Thvedt, 1981), domestic (Browder, Hines, McCarthy, & Fees, 1984; Snell, 1982), self-care (Azrin, Schaeffer, & Wesolowski, 1976; Foxx & Azrin, 1973), language (Halle, Marshall, & Spradlin, 1979), and play (Kohl, Beckman, & Swenson-Pierce, 1984) skills by providing assistance in the form of stimulus and response prompts to occasion the behavior of difficult-to-teach students.

Given the importance of stimulus prompts (e.g., stimulus fading and stimulus shaping) and response prompts (e.g., increasing assistance, decreas- ing assistance, and time delay) in facilitating learning, future research should be directed at identifying the conditions under which some instructional ap- proaches are superior to other instructional approaches (Bennett, Gast, Wolery, & Schuster, 1986; Billingsley, 1984; Billingsley & Romer, 1983; Shevin, 1982). Whereas previous emphasis has been placed upon the deter- mination of effective training methods, contemporary emphasis must focus upon the disclosure of optimally effective training methods (Nietupski, Hamre-Nietupski, & Ayres, 1984). At this time, however, systematic com- parisons of instructional approaches remain limited (Schoen, 1986).

Comparative analyses by researchers are required to guide intervention selection by practitioners, as teachers rarely have the luxury of determining effective treatments by trial-and-error choice from the alternatives described in the experimental literature (Shevin, 1982). Such comparisons must con- sider the superiority of treatments across learning phases. Educators need to know which treatment might be expected to influence maintenance and generalization as well as acquisition of skills in particular populations of stu- dents in order to effectively and propitiously manipulate instructional ele- ments (Donellan & Mirenda, 1983). The most salient teaching strategies which enable handicapped children to learn more quickly and independently must be identified if the benefits of intervention are to be realized (Rogers-Warren & Poulson, 1984).

The purpose of this study is to compare the response-prompt proce- dures of increasing assistance and time delay to determine differential effec- tiveness and efficiency in teaching handicapped preschool children to make a snack and get a drink. Four pairs of students, each consisting of one target subject who received direct teacher instruction and one nontarget subject who received observational opportunities to learn, participated. The inclusion of structured opportunities for learning through observation could greatly en- hance the efficiency of intensive instruction, yet observational learning is clear- ly underutilized. Thus, the current examination of instructional procedures extends beyond the study of the acquisition of two self-help skills to the gener- alization of these skills to noninstructed subjects.

Comparison in Teaching Self-Help Skills 59

M E T H O D

Subjects

This research was conducted at the Drew Development Center, a facili- ty operated by the county Mental Health/Mental Retardation Unit to serv- ice developmentally delayed children from birth to 5 years old. The procedure for selecting subjects for inclusion in this study involved the following steps. Preschool-age children who demonstrated instructional compliance and mo- toric imitation skills and who had not been observed performing the targeted tasks independently were identified by classroom teachers. A pool of 18 poten- tial subjects was then screened to assess current functioning on the two self- help tasks. Children who partially or completely performed the tasks were eliminated. Eight of the 9 children meeting the selection criteria were ran- domly selected and assigned as a target or observer subject in a training pair. For procedural purposes, an effort was made to choose two students from the same classroom. The characteristics for each subject pair are presented in Table I.

Setting

All snack-making sessions were conducted in a partitioned area (3.5 m x 2.25 m) of an occupied classroom. Table and chairs were arranged so that the two students faced the wall with the materials in front of them on the tabletop. The trainer stood behind the students, allowing ready provi- sion of prompts.

All chinking sessions were conducted in a serviceable, three-staU bathroom (4 m x 3 m). Children were positioned side-by-side facing the sink and the trainer, once again, stood behind the students.

Materials and Reinforcement

Snack materials included a jar of Concord grape jam (510 grams), a jar of creamy peanut butter (340 grams), quartered bread slices, and a round- edged table knife. Drinking equipment and materials involved a sink with rotationaUy operated spigots, a footstool for adequate access, and disposable drinking cups.

The target tasks of making a snack and getting a drink present situation- specific consequences which may provide within-task reinforcement. That is, within the chain of responses required for completion of the tasks, the

60 Sehoen and Sivil

Table 1. Characteristics o f Subject Pairs

Pair 1 2.8-year-old female Barley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent of 1.6 years ~ Mecham Language Test age equivalent of 1 year ~

Pair 2 3.5-year-old male Barley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent o f 1.3 years* Merrill Palmer Scale of Mental Tests age equivalent o f 1.6 years c Vineland Social Maturity Scales age equivalent of 1 year a

Pair 3 4.2-year-old male Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test-Revised age equivalent of 2.3 years e Mecham Language Scales age equivalent of 2.9 years b Vineland Social Maturity Scales age equivalent o f 3.1 years a

Pair 4 5.4-year-old female Barley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent of 1.6 years* Battelle Development Inventory age equivalent o f 3.8 years"

3-year-old female Barley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent of 1.5 years* Mecham Language Test age equivalent of 6 months ~

3.3-year-old male Barley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent of 11 months* Vineland Social Maturity Scale age equivalent of 11 months d

4.7-year-old male Bayley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent o f 1.7 years* Mecham Language Test age equivalent of 8 months b

3.6-year-old male Barley Scales of Infant Development age equivalent of 2 years* Mecham Language Test age equivalent of 2 years b

*Bayley, 1969. bMecham & Jones, 1978. ~Stutsman, 1926. ~Doll, 1965. "Dunn & Dunn, 1981. IDLM Teaching Resources Staff, 1984.

consumption of food and water occurred. Williams, Koegel, and Egel (1981) described this chain as a response-reinforcer relationship in which the child would be performing the target response en route to procuring the reinforc- er. The potential for these situational consequences to function as reinforcers seemed likely since food and water remain as durable reinforcers in the management of mentally retarded subjects (Shevin, 1982). Beyond these natural consequences, various social reinforcers (i.e., praise, tickles, hugs, and pats) were provided to target subjects contingent upon compliance, par- ticipation, and completion of the taks regardless of the level of assistance given (Freagon & Rotatori, 1982). Observer students received social reinforce-

Comparison in Teaching Self-Help Skills 61

ment for attending during and subsequent to each trial. By yoking the pair in instruction, groups were equated in the amount of positive reinforcement they received.

Procedures

Training began with different task/intervention presentations for each pair of subjects to minimize the confound of sequence in analyzing results. Intervention in the form of response prompts (i.e., increasing assistance and time delay) or observational opportunities was used to occasion a response. Increasing assistance utilized a system of progressively increasing prompts (Gaul, Nietupski, & Certo, 1985). The trainer systematically moved f rom assumed lesser to greater degrees of assistance. Time delay introduced phys- ical prompts for the purpose of maximizing correct responses and minimiz- ing student errors. Rather than increasing assistance along a prompt sequence or reducing the amount of a prompt , the time delay procedure employed the gradual delaying of instructional assistance on a temporal sequence (Snell & Gast, 1981). Both response-prompt procedures, then, incorporated the fad- ing of stimulus control f rom the response prompt to the natural stimulus. Observational learning entailed opportunities to benefit f rom a close, unob- structed view of the teacher instructing the target child.

Target Behaviors and Assessment. The self-help skills of making a snack and getting a drink were targeted for instruction since they represent rou- tinely performed skills utilized in several environments. Training was con- ducted using the equipment and materials available in natural settings. The tasks were divided into 12 steps and quantitatively equated for analytic pur- poses (see Table II for task sequences). During screening, students were in- dividually assessed on the tasks. The trainer brought the child to the training

Table I1. Task Analyses for Making a Snack and Getting a Drink

Making a snack Getting a drink

1. Looks at supplies 1. Faces sink 2. Reaches toward knife 2. Looks toward cups 3. Grasps knife 3. Reaches toward cups 4. Puts knife in a jar of preference 4. Grasps one cup 5. Stabilizes jar 5. Places cup under faucet 6. Scoops out one or both substances 6. Looks toward spigot 7. Reaches toward bread 7. Reaches for cold water spigot 8. Stabilizes bread 8. Grasps spigot 9. Brings knife to bread 9. Activates control 10. Spreads substance(s) on bread 10. Fills cup 11. Releases knife 11. Deactivates control 12. Eats snack 12. Drinks water

62 Schoen and Sivil

area and directed him/her to make a snack or get a drink. No prompts were provided. Appropriate responding and/or attending were socially reinforced to preclude the interpretation that reinforcement alone was responsible for performance gains (Bennett et al., 1986). This same procedure was used during baseline probes and for daily performance probes.

Increasing Assistance. Increasing assistance was provided along a hier- archy of three prompt levels from lesser (i.e., natural verbal cue) to greater (i.e., full physical guidance) degrees of assistance. Operationalized, the proce- dure also incorporated a latency interval of 5 sec which was inserted between presentation of the natural cues and the increasingly intrusive prompt. When teaching the self-help skills under this procedure, each trial adhered to the following sequence: (a) the student was placed in close proximity to the materi- als and/or equipment and verbally directed to interact; (b) the student was provided a model of the desired interaction and verbally directed; and (c) the student was manually guided through the desired interaction and verbal- ly directed. Errors were interrupted and training proceeded to the next prompt level. Prompts were faded in reverse order contingent upon correct response at each level; consequently, the procedure has been referred to as self-fading since less and less assistance is offered as the pupil learns (Billingsley & Romer, 1983).

Time Delay. The present time delay procedure increased students op- portunity to respond correctly by providing manual guidance to prompt task performance. This guidance was delayed by the gradual increase of time incre- ments inserted between the natural cue and the prompt. Thus, the increas- ing delay permitted the learners to anticipate the correct response without assistance. Each instructional session was characterized by a trial in which a constant delay interval of 0 sec, then 5 sec was used. A trial followed this format: (a) the student was placed in close proximity to the matierals and/or equipment and verbally directed to interact; (b) the student was manually guided throughthe desired interaction and verbally directed at the 0-see laten- cy interval; and (c) the student was manually guided through the task and verbally directed at the 5-see delay interval. Correct anticipations and prompted responses were reinforced, while the error correction procedure of "no" plus immediate manual guidance was instituted for incorrect responses (i.e., nonwait errors, wait errors, and no response) (Koury & Browder, 1986).

Observational Learning. Observational opportunities were provided through an unobstructed view of the target subject and the trainer's instruc- tion. During training trials, the observer student was verbally cued to attend prior to each trial sequence and contingently praised for attending during and subsequent to each trial sequence. Intermittent reminders to attend were provided when required.

Comparison in Teaching Self-Help Skills 63

Experimental Design

A combination of design elements was employed to evaluate the effects o f the interventions. A multiple probe design ( H o m e r & Baer, 1978) across four pairs of subjects was combined with a parallel treatments design (Bennett et al., 1986) across treatment conditions. To avoid the practical limitations of a multiple baseline design, which requires the protracted collection of base- line data on a continuous basis for students who have not yet been introduced to the intervention, the multiple probe design across individuals was em- ployed. This design utilizes the principle of time-lagged control to demon- strate experimental effect (Tawney & Gast, 1984). More specifically, the design provides convincing evidence of the effectiveness of interventions by the at tainment of consistent and rapid increases in behavior subsequent to treatment introduction and by the maintenance of zero level responding by all subjects just prior to t reatment introduction.

Functional self-help skills were selected on the basis of reasonable equity in the level o f response difficulty as Well as teacher recommendat ion. Procedurally, the at tempt to balance the response requirements of two com- plex tasks in order to evaluate the effects o f several instructional procedures must be acknowledged as tedious at best. Nevertheless, the need to compare diverse instructional procedures with lengthy, chained-response tasks is crit- ical for a more comprehensive analysis o f t reatment effect.

Instruction was provided for two consecutive tasks during each train- ing session, with a different treatment applied to each task in a parallel treat- ments design (Gast & Wolery, 1985). The tasks, conditions, and intervention sequence are displayed in Table III . The parallel treatments design can best

Table IH. Task/intervention for Each Subject Pair"

#1 #1 #2 #2 Subjects Task Intervention Task Intervention

Pair 1 Target subject TI PA T2 PB Observer TI PA T2 PB

Pair 2 Target subject TI PB T2 PA Observer TI PB T2 PA

Pair 3 Target subject T2 PB T1 PA Observer "I"2 PB TI PA

Pair 4 Target subject T2 PB TI PA Observer T2 PB TI PA

aT1 = making a snack task, T2 = getting a drink task, PA = increasing- assistance prompt procedure, PB = time-delay prompt procedure.

64 Schoen and Sivil

be described as two concurrently operating multiple probe designs across sub- jects in which potentially confounding variables are counterbalanced across procedures (Bennett et al., 1986, p. 122).

Reliability

Reliability of data collection was assessed once a week by comparison of the classroom teacher's and first author's recordings druing test trials isuing an exact step-by-step agreement method. Sufficient space was inserted be- tween the two recorders to assure independent scoring. Each step of the task analysis was scored as correct (+ ) or incorrect ( - ) . Reliability coefficients were computed using the formula: agreements + (aggrements + disagree- ments) x 100% (Hartmann, 1977; Tawney & Gast, 1984).

Several measures of procedural integrity were collected to assess the teachers' accuracies in implementing the training procedures. A compara- tive analysis of implemented versus planned technical procedures is needed to strengthen the internal validity of the research (Billingsley, White, & Munson, 1980; Voeltz & Evans, 1983).

Procedural integrity was examined on six occasions. The researcher dichotomously scored the procedures within each of the three interventions (i.e., increasing assistance, time delay, and observational learning) accord- ing to occurrence or nonoccurrence for each observed trial. The total num- ber of occurrences was divided by the total number of occurrences plus nonocurrences, yielding a'percentage of procedural integrity. Seven discrete instructionhl behaviors for the increasing assistance procedure, six specific instructional behaviors for the time delay procedure~ and three particular instructional behaviors during observational learning opportunities were recorded.

Social Validity

Social validity of outcomes was executed to examine the significance of behavioral changes. Each subject demonstrated his/her terminal level of performance at the end of the time allotted for the study in the presence of classroom aides, preschool teachers, and program administrators. More spe- cifically, subject pairs were requested by the trainer to perform the tasks under probe conditions (i.e., no prompts; social reinforcement). This form of so- cial validity (i.e., social perceptions) provides critical information on be- havioral performance criteria likely to be considered meaningful (Voeltz, Wuerch, & Bockhaut, 1982).

Comparison in Teaching Self-Help Skills

RESULTS

65

Reliability Estimation

Measures of procedural integrity strengthen the credibility of these find- ings. A comparative analysis of implemented versus planned technical proce- dures resulted in accuracies of 96~ for all instructional interventions. Agreement in scoring also averaged 96~

Comparative Analysis of Strategies

Figure 1 displays the data demonstrating the effects of increasing as- sistance, time delay, and observational learning upon the performance of making a snack and getting a drink. Data on the total number of steps cor- rectly completed for each task by the eight subjects are recorded.

The probes conducted during the initial screening constitute the initial baseline measures across target behaviors for all subjects. During the inter- vention phase, a return to probe condition followed the attainment of one criterion data point in each instructional sequence. When interventions were introduced, performance of the tasks increased immediately. Within the al- lotted time of the study, two subjects (George and Christina) learned both tasks in their entirety.

Four students reached 100~ criterion on the making-a-snack task, re- quiring from 8 to 18 sessions. Four students also mastered the getting-a-drink task, requiring 6 to 16 sessions.

Post hoc analysis of the data are sequenced to address the immediacy of level change between adjacent conditions, the level change within a con- dition, the number of trials to criterion, the mean of the last three data probes, the percentage of days at criterion, and the average length of a training trial. The data in Table IV summarize the comparative effects of treatment across eight children and two tasks.

As an indication of the immediate impact that the intervention had on the target behaviors, the level change between baseline and intervention was calculated. The most abrupt changes in the target and observer subjects oc- curred under the time delay procedure in which the task of getting a drink was taught. For the remaining task/intervention combinations, a modest but positive increase was noted. A second aspect of level change within the in- tervention phase was computed to assess improvement within the condition. While all instructional procedures produced gains in learning the tasks, the mo.~t gradual change occurred during the time delay procedure in which the task of getting a drink was taught. This finding, however, reflects the

66 S c h o e n a n d Sivi l

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68 Schoen and $ivil

difficulty the youngest pair of subjects experienced in rotating their wrists to operate the spigot.

With regard to the average number of trials to criterion, both tasks in- structed with the time delay procedure required fewer trials, while the stabil- ity of both response prompt procedures at the end of training remained constant at comparable levels. Analysis of the days at criterion indicated an average percentage in favor of the time delay procedure across subjects and tasks. The manipulations in programming instructional trials of equitable duration was successful. On average, a training trial lasted 3 min.

DISCUSSION

The effects of several interventions to assist in the acquisition and gener- alization of self-help tasks are addressed in this study. Acquisition data are examined in terms of the relative and comparative effects of the increasing assistance and time delay procedures in order to answer these questions: (a) Does the intervention work and (b) which intervention works better? Gener- alization data are examined with regard to generalized effect across subjects. These data are analyzed in order to answer the following questions: (a) To what extent do subjects receiving only observational opportunities learn the target skills and (b) do substantially different rates of learning occur during observation of diverse forms of instruction?

The relative effects of the response prompt procedures suggest that young developmentally delayed children can readily acquire self-help tasks by receiving increasing or time delay instruction on target behaviors. Perhaps more impressive results are that considerable learning can be expected in stu- dents receiving observational opportunities that incorporate cuing student attention and reinforcing attending behavior.

The comparative effects of the interventions seem to favor the time de- lay procedure in teaching self-help tasks. A subtle, but discernible differ- ence emerged from analysis of the data presented in Table IV and Figure 1. Based on these data, the time delay procedure appeared to be more effec- tive and efficient in teaching self-help skills to three target subjects (Talique, George, and Christina) and two observer subjects (April and Muraad). The constant time delay procedure required fewer trials for those students who reached criterion on both tasks. Over the course of the study, the time delay procedure involved three fewer sessions to criterion when the total number of sessions for the three target students who learned both tasks was con- sidered.

This finding of differential effect may be accountable to variations in fading between the procedures. A time delay procedure that incorporates

Comparison in Teaching Self-Help Skills 69

a controlling physical prompt fades assistance by delaying the prompt along one sensory dimension (i.e., the tactile sensory channel), whereas the increas- ing assistance procedure that includes visual as well as physical prompts fades assistance across sensory dimensions (i.e., the visual and tactile sensory chan- nels). Billingsley and Romer (1983) suggested that instructional procedures that do not rely on across-modality variations might be more effective in promoting the transfer of stimulus control to the natural prompt.

In light of only modest demonstrations of superiority, however, the manifestations of these procedural differences may have been suppressed, since both response prompt procedures were highly effective in increasing the target behaviors. Room for differences to be observed, therefore, was minimal. Further precision in the collection of comparative data (e.g., error analysis) could have provided more convincing evidence. Conversely, the sub- tleness of the differences in procedures between increasing assistance and time delay may in practice not be sufficient to produce significant differ- ences in learning rate. After all, both procedures constitute highly iconic prompts. Physical prompts and demonstrations are illustrative in nature and provide considerable information to the learner (Billingsley & Romer, 1983). Further comparative research is needed to ascertain the differential effec- tiveness and efficiency of these procedures for teaching complex, chained- response tasks.

The results of this study also indicate that a considerable level of im- itative ability existed among the nontarget subjects. Drabman, Hammer, and Rosenbaum (1979) described generalization across subjects as the demon- stration of behavior changes in a nontarget subject following the initiation of intervention with another subject. In the current study, generalization across subjects by means of observational learning constituted a parsimoni- ous and economical procedure, suggesting several implications for instruc- tion. First, the assessment of imitative skills should be conducted routinely prior to instruction. In 1975, Cullinan, Kauffman, and La Fleur reported that observational learning was an underutilized teaching resource. Over a decade later, that situation persists (Browder, Schoen, & Lentz, 1986). Second, since observational opportunities can be easily and readily pro- vided in group teaching formats, the use of observation as a vehicle for building skills demands consideration. Educational services are essentially provided in group arrangements; therefore, teachers should not neglect the arrangement of didactic instruction for any population of handicapped stu- dents. Severely to mildly delayed youngsters benefited from observation in this study.

It is uncertain if the results from observational opportunities would have been realized with less intrusive procedures. Nor is it clear that if unsystematic procedures were employed that observational learning would have been simi-

70 Schoen and Sivil

larly affected. The strikingly positive effects that were evidenced across in- terventions and tasks are congruent with previous research accounts (Schoen, Lentz, & Suppa, 1987) reporting the effect of observing decreasing assistance and graduate guidance instruction. Both of these studies underscore the need for additional research to investigate whether sophisticated instructional procedures are more effective than simple instruction in facilitating obser- vational learning.

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Comparison in Teaching Self-Help Skills 71

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