developmental disabilities acquire self-care skills NUMBEEL 1

JOURNAL

OF

APPLIED

BEHAVIOR

ANALYSIS

TEACHING

CHILDREN

WITH

AUTISM

TO

USE

PHOTOGRAPHIC

ACTIVITY

SCHEDULES:

MAINTENANCE

AND

GENERALIZATION

OF

COMPLEX

RESPONSE

CHAINS

GREGORY

S.

MACDUFF,

PATRICIA

J.

KRANTZ,

AND

LYNN

E.

MCCLANNAHAN

PRINCETON

CHILD

DEVELOPMENT

INSTITUTE

We

used

a

graduated

guidance

procedure

to

teach

4

boys

with

autism

to

follow

photographic

activity

schedules

to

increase

on-task

and

on-schedule

behavior.

The

multiple

baseline

across

par-

ticipants

design

induded

baseline,

teaching,

maintenance,

resequencing

of

photographs,

and

gen-

eralization

to

novel

photographs

phases.

The

results

indicated

that

photographic

activity

schedules

(albums

depicting

after-school

activities)

produced

sustained

engagement,

and

skills

generalized

to

a

new

sequence

of

photographs

and

to

new

photographs.

The

acquisition

of

schedule-following

skills

enabled

these

children

with

severe

developmental

disabilities

to

display

lengthy

response

chains,

independently

change

activities,

and

change

activities

in

different

group

home

settings

in

the

absence

of

immediate

supervision

and

prompts

from

others.

DESCRIPTORS:

autism,

prompting,

stimulus

control,

photographic

cues,

generalization

A

goal

of

behavioral

intervention

for

people

with

autism

is

the

development

of

functional

skills

that

maximize

engagement

in

appropriate

self-care,

work,

and

leisure

activities.

However,

many

inter-

vention

packages

rely

heavily

on

verbal

instructions,

modeling,

and

gestures.

Because

these

prompts

are

often

associated

with

reinforcement

during

teach-

ing,

they

may

acquire

stimulus

control

over

target

responses,

with

the

result

that

learners

may

not

display

target

skills

in

the

absence

of

teachers

and

prompting

procedures.

Although

complex

behav-

ioral

repertoires

may

be

quickly

established

in

a

treatment

setting,

often

they

do

not

generalize

or

endure

over

time

(see

Dunlap

&

Plienis,

1988;

Fowler,

1988;

Sailor,

Goetz,

Anderson,

Hunt,

&

Gee,

1988).

Children

with

autism

who

have

been

taught

to

play

with

toys,

dust

the

furniture,

and

complete

handwriting

worksheets

or

other

func-

tional

skills

often

fail

to

exhibit

these

responses

spontaneously,

perhaps

because

stimulus

control

did

not

transfer

from

prompts

embedded

in

the

training

setting

to

naturally

occurring

stimuli

(Bil-

lingsley

&

Romer,

1983;

Snell,

1983).

Reprints

may

be

obtained

from

the

authors,

Princeton

Child

Development

Institute,

300

Cold

Soil

Road,

Princeton,

New

Jersey

08540.

People

with

autism

have

also

had

difficulty

ac-

quiring

lengthy

response

chains.

Thus,

although

a

boy

may

have

learned

to

brush

his

teeth,

get

dressed,

and

go

to

breakfast,

he

may

not

complete

this

sequence

without

prompts

to

initiate

each

activity

or

each

part

of

an

activity.

Some

investigators

have

used

visual

cues

(pictures,

photographs,

or

line

drawings)

as

sequenced

discriminative

stimuli

that

enable

participants

to

complete

the

steps

in

a

com-

plex

task

or

to

change

tasks

independently.

For

example,

Wacker

and

Berg

(1983)

used

photo-

graphs

of

line

drawings

to

teach

adolescents

with

moderate

and

severe

retardation

to

complete

com-

plex

assembly

tasks

consisting

of

18

to

30

steps,

andJohnson

and

Cuvo

(1981)

used

pictorial

recipes

to

help

adults

with

developmental

disabilities

learn

cooking

skills

such

as

boiling,

baking,

and

broiling.

Others

have

used

visual

cues

to

help

people

with

developmental

disabilities

acquire

self-care

skills

(Thinesen

&

Bryan,

1981),

meal

preparation

and

cooking

repertoires

(Martin,

Rusch,

James,

Decker,

&

Trtol,

1982;

Robinson-Wilson,

1977),

com-

puter

use

(Frank,

Wacker,

Berg,

&

McMahon,

1985),

and

derical

and

laundry

tasks

(Wacker,

Berg,

Berrie,

&

Swatta,

1985).

Sowers,

Rusch,

Connis,

and

Cummings

(1980)

taught

adults

with

mental

retardation

to

move

independently

from

89

1993,

269,

89-97

NUMBEEL

1

(SPRING

1993)

GREGORY

S.

MAcDUFF

et

al.

work

to

lunch

or

break

and

back

to

work;

their

research

is

noteworthy

because

there

have

been

few

examinations

of

the

use

of

picture

cues

to

teach

people

to

move

independently

from

an

activity

in

one

setting

to

a

different

activity

in

another

setting.

Although

some

investigations

have

shown

that

the

use

of

visual

cues

can

decrease

dependence

on

teachers

and

enhance

generalization

and

mainte-

nance

of

newly

acquired

skills,

most

of

these

studies

have

used

intervention

packages

that

combine

pic-

tures,

line

drawings,

or

photographs

with

other

procedures.

Research

using

visual

cueing

procedures

has

not

yet

clarified

which

components

of

treatment

packages

are

responsible

for

the

reported

results,

or

whether

entire

treatment

packages

are

essential.

Our

investigation

was

designed

to

assess

the

effects

of

a

two-component

teaching

package

(photo-

graphs

and

graduated

guidance)

on

participants'

on-task

and

on-schedule

behavior.

Our

goal

is

to

extend

the

literature

with

4

youths

whose

group-

home

intervention

programs

relied

on

verbal

con-

tacts

(instructions,

questions,

and

praise

statements)

by

caregivers.

Each

youth

received

an

average

of

one

or

two

verbal

contacts

per

minute.

Although

this

rate

of

staff

contacts

resulted

in

very

high

levels

of

appropriate

engagement

and

low

levels

of

ste-

reotypic

behavior,

most

responses

were

prompted,

and

previously

taught

skills

were

seldom

sponta-

neously

displayed.

Several

attempts

to fade

verbal

prompts

had

been

abandoned

because

decreases

in

prompts

were

associated

with

increases

in

off-task

and

disruptive

behavior.

In

this

context,

we

ex-

amined

the

effects

of

photographic

activity

sched-

ules,

taught

with

graduated

guidance,

on

the

ac-

quisition,

maintenance,

and

generalization

of

complex

response

chains

that

required

the

partici-

pants

to

remain

engaged

and

to

move

into

different

settings

in

their

group

home

without

prompts.

METHOD

Participants

The

4

participants

in

this

study

were

Mike

and

Walter,

age

9;

Steve,

age

11;

and

Roy,

age

14.

They

met

the

DSM-III-R

(APA,

1987)

criteria

for

autism,

and

an

independent

diagnosis

of

autism

had

been

conferred

by

outside

agencies

before

their

program

enrollment.

The

boys'

scores

on

the

Pea-

body

Picture

Vocabulary

Test

ranged

from

2.1

to

3.9

years

(M

=

3.2);

Steve

was

unable

to

obtain

a

basal

score.

Age-equivalent

scores

on

the

Vineland

Adaptive

Behavior

Scale

were

5.5

for

Mike

and

Walter,

5.3

for

Roy,

and

3.3

for

Steve.

Informed

parental

consent

was

obtained

for

each

participant.

All

participants

had

long

histories

of

disruptive

behavior,

including

aggression,

tantrums,

and

run-

ning

away,

and

all

displayed

high

rates

of

stereo-

typic

behavior

in

the

absence

of

structured

pro-

gramming.

In

addition,

all

had

severe

language

deficits;

they

exhibited

echolalia,

vocal

noise,

non-

contextual

speech,

and

lack

of

spontaneous

lan-

guage.

The

boys

were

dependent

on

ongoing

su-

pervision

and

verbal

prompts

to

complete

self-help,

housekeeping,

and

leisure

activities.

Prior

to

this

investigation,

incidental

teaching

and

discrete-trial

teaching

procedures

were

used

to

teach

home-living

skills

such

as

vacuuming,

dusting,

and

table

setting,

as

well

as

leisure

skills

such

as

using

manipulative

toys,

biking,

and

rollerskating.

All

participants

had

acquired

picture-object

correspondence

skills

before

the

study

began,

and

each

had

a

limited

experience

with

a

photographic

activity

schedule

that

either

(a)

displayed

the

steps

in

preparing

a

bag

lunch

for

the

next

school

day

or

(b)

depicted

the

steps

necessary

to

obtain

a

preferred

beverage.

None

had

ever

used

photographic

cues

that

prompted

leisure

skills

or

that

depicted

a

sequence

of

different

ac-

tivities.

Setting

The

study

was

conducted

in

a

community-based

Teaching-Family

Model

group

home

where

the

participants

had

resided

for

1.1

to

4.2

years

(M

=

2.1

years).

The

home

was

staffed

by

live-in

teaching

parents

(a

married

couple)

and

two

other

full-time

therapists.

Like

other

Teaching-Family

programs,

the

home

was

family-style

and

consumer-evaluated

(McClannahan,

Krantz,

McGee,

&

MacDuff,

1984).

Sessions

were

conducted

in

the

living

room,

family

room,

and

participants'

bedrooms.

Photographic

Activity

Schedules

Each

participant's

photographic

activity

schedule

was

displayed

in

a

three-ring

binder.

Each

binder

90

PHOTOGRAPHIC

ACTIVITY

SCHEDULES

contained

six

photographs

(35

mm)

depicting

lei-

sure

and

homework

activities;

each

photo

(7

cm

by

1

1.5

cm)

was

mounted

in

the

center

of

a

single

page

of

white

paper

(21.5

cm

by

28

cm)

that

was

inserted

in

a

plastic

page

protector.

Photographs

displayed

materials

against

a

plain

background

without

distractors;

for

example,

a

picture

of

a

snack

showed

only

a

plate

with

two

cookies.

Initially,

the

first

three

photographs

in

Mike's

schedule

were

Colorforms

®,

handwriting

work-

sheets,

and

Tinker

Toys®0;

Walt's

first,

second,

and

third

photos

were

handwriting

worksheets,

Lincoln

Logs®,

and

Colorforms®0;

Roy's

were

Memory®

game,

Lego®

blocks,

and

Cootie®

game;

and

Steve's

were

Lego

blocks,

Colorforms

®,

and

Per-

fection®

.

The

three

remaining

activities

in

the

boys'

schedules

were

snack,

puzzle,

and

TV

in

the

fourth,

fifth,

and

sixth

positions,

respectively.

Some

of

the

leisure

materials

depicted

in

the

photographic

ac-

tivity

schedules

were

displayed

on

shelves

above

the

youths'

desks,

some

were

located

on

their

dress-

ers,

and

others

(e.g.,

the

TV)

were

located

several

rooms

away

from

the

boys'

bedrooms

in

the

family

room.

Dependent

Variables

On-task.

On-task

was

recorded

if

participants

were

(a)

visually

attending

to

any

appropriate

play

or

work

materials,

(b)

looking

at

their

photographic

schedules,

(c)

manipulating

play

or

work

materials

appropriately

(i.e.,

as

they

were

designed

to

be

used),

or

(d)

in

transition

from

one

scheduled

ac-

tivity

to

another.

Off-task

was

scored

if

they

(a)

used

materials

in

a

manner

other

than

that

for

which

they

were

designed,

(b)

manipulated

but

did

not

visually

attend

to

the

materials,

(c)

engaged

in

inappropriate

behavior

(e.g.,

aggression,

tantrums,

stereotypies),

or

(d)

did

not

engage

in

activities

or

use

materials.

On-schedule.

On-schedule

was

scored

if,

at

the

moment

of

observation,

a

participant

was

engaged

in

the

activity

depicted

on

the

page

to

which

his

activity

schedule

was

open.

For

example,

if

a

boy

was

building

with

Lego®

blocks

and

his

notebook

was

open

to

a

page

displaying

a

photograph

of

Lego

blocks,

on-schedule

was

scored.

However,

if

he

was

using

the

blocks

and

the

photographic

activity

schedule

showed

handwriting

worksheets,

the

observers

scored

on-task

but

off-schedule.

Fur-

ther,

off-schedule

was

recorded

if

on-task

criteria

were

not

met.

Independent

Variables

Verbal

contacts.

These

were

defined

as

verbal

instructions,

questions,

or

praise

statements

(e.g.,

"Steve,

look

at

your

puzzle,"

"What

color

will

you

use,

Roy?"

or

"Good,

Mike,

you're

looking

at

your

blocks!").

Gestures

and

gestural

prompts.

These

prompts

induded

all

pointing,

motioning,

or

nodding

to-

ward

children

or

materials,

as

well

as

pointing

to

specific

toys,

materials,

or

photographs

that

rep-

resented

the

next

tasks

in

a

sequence.

Thus,

both

nonspecific

gestures

(e.g.,

pointing

toward

a

child)

and

gestural

prompts

(e.g.,

pointing

to

the

last

piece

to

be

placed

in

a

puzzle)

were

scored.

This

broad

definition

was

used

to

identify

any

trainer

behavior

that

could

potentially

influence

partici-

pants'

performance.

Manualprompts.

Manual

prompts

were

defined

as

orienting

a

youth's

head

toward

materials,

hand-

over-hand

prompts,

and

light

touches

such

as

those

that

occur

when

manual

guidance

is

faded.

Measurement

Procedures

During

all

sessions,

independent

observers

used

a

60-s

momentary

time-sampling

procedure

to

score

on-task

and

on-schedule.

Additional

observers

re-

corded

verbal

contacts,

gestures

and

gestural

prompts,

and

manual

prompts

with

a

60-s

partial-

interval

procedure.

Experimental

Design

A

multiple

baseline

design

across

participants

was

used

to

assess

the

effects

of

photographic

ac-

tivity

schedules

on

on-task

and

on-schedule

be-

havior

during

baseline,

teaching,

maintenance,

re-

sequencing

of

pictorial

schedules,

and

generalization

to

novel

photographs.

Experimental

Conditions

Sessions

were

60

min

in

duration.

Prior

to

all

sessions,

participants

were

seated

on

a

bench

in

the

living

room;

their

photographic

activity

schedules

GREGORY

S.

MAcDUFF

et

al.

were

located

on

a

table

approximately

1

m

from

the

bench

and

directly

in

front

of

them.

Activity

schedules

and

the

depicted

materials

were

present

during

all

conditions.

Sessions

began

when

the

pri-

mary

data

collector

gave

the

instruction,

"Everyone

look

at

me;

please

find

something

to

do."

This

standard

instruction

was

used

throughout

all

phases

of

the

research,

and

no

rewards

were

delivered

by

the

teacher.

Baseline.

After

the

standard

instruction

was

giv-

en,

no

additional

manual,

gestural,

or

verbal

prompts

were

delivered,

and

inappropriate

behavior

was

ignored.

The

teacher

(the

first

author)

was

never

present

during

baseline.

Teaching

use

of

pictorial

schedules.

Partici-

pants

successively

entered

the

teaching

condition.

At

first,

the

teacher

stood

next

to

the

bench

where

the

boys

were

seated,

and

after

the

primary

observer

gave

the

initial

instruction,

the

teacher

waited

10

s

for

a

target

child

to

stand

up.

If

the

participant

did

not

get

up

during

this

interval,

the

teacher

placed

his

hand

on

the

boy's

shoulder

and

manually

guided

him

to

his

photographic

activity

schedule.

If

the

child

got

up

but

did

not

move

toward

the

photographic

schedule,

the

same

prompt

was

de-

livered.

Graduated

guidance,

delivered

from

be-

hind

the

youth,

was

used

to

help

him

complete

the

sequence

of

activities

pictured

in

his

activity

sched-

ule,

in

the

order

in

which

photographs

were

pre-

sented.

During

initial

sessions,

the

boy

was

man-

ually

prompted

to

pick

up

his

notebook,

carry

it

to

his

bedroom,

open

it,

point

to

the

first

picture,

gather

the

necessary

materials,

complete

the

activ-

ity,

put

materials

away,

and

turn

the

page

to

the

next

activity.

A

child

was

manually

prompted

to

put

materials

away

and

move

on

to

the

next

activity

when

he

(a)

used

all

the

available

materials

(e.g.,

if

30

Lego®

blocks

were

provided,

he

used

all

pieces)

or

(b)

completed

all

items

on

his

worksheets.

If

a

participant

progressed

to

the

last

scheduled

activity

(TV)

before

60

min

had

elapsed,

he

con-

tinued

this

activity

until

the

session

ended.

The

teaching

procedure

specifically

prohibited

verbal

contacts,

gestures,

and

gestural

prompts,

and

called

for

the

preventive

use

of

manual

prompts

to

de-

crease

errors.

Manual

prompts

were

always

delivered

from

be-

hind

the

youth.

Graduated

guidance

was

initially

available

for

all

tasks

specified

by

the

photographic

schedule,

but

prompts

were

faded

in

frequency

and

intensity

as

rapidly

as

possible.

Fading

began

by

moving

from

graduated

guidance

to

spatial

fading

(i.e.,

the

teacher

changed

the

location

of

manual

prompts).

Subsequently,

the

teacher

moved

to

shadowing-he

followed

the

youth's

movements

with

his

hands

near

the

boy,

but

without

making

physical

contact

(Cooper,

1987;

Foxx

&

Azrin,

1973).

However,

if

a

boy

engaged

in

inappropriate

behavior,

or

if

he

paused

for

an

extended

period

of

time,

prompts

were

reinstated.

When

a

youth

was

scored

as

on-task

and

on-

schedule

during

at

least

80%

of

time

samples

with

shadowing,

the

teacher

began

to

fade

his

physical

proximity.

The

teaching

condition

ended

for

a

youth

when

he

remained

on-task

and

on-schedule

during

at

least

80%

of

time

samples

for

five

consecutive

sessions

after

the

teacher's

physical

proximity

had

been

faded.

(Because

Mike

and

Walter

shared

one

bedroom

and

Roy

and

Steve

shared

another,

the

teacher

was

present

in

each

bedroom

until

his

prox-

imity

was

faded

for

the

second

boy

in

each

dyad.

The

teacher

was

present

in

the

living

room

and

family

room

until

his

proximity

was

faded

for

Steve.)

Maintenance.

During

maintenance,

the

teacher

was

present

to

prompt

the

youth

entering

the

teach-

ing

condition,

but

boys

in

maintenance

received

no

prompts.

For

example,

although

the

teacher

stood

next

to

the

bench

at

the

beginning

of

the

session

or

was

present

in

the

room

of

a

child

who

had

recently

completed

training,

he

did

not

provide

any

prompts

to

participants

who

had

completed

train-

ing.

Resequencing

photographic

activity

schedules.

At

the

beginning

of

this

condition,

four

of

the

six

original

activities

in

Mike's,

Walter's,

and

Roy's

schedules

were

resequenced

(i.e.,

all

activities

except

snack

and

TV

were

randomly

assigned

to

new

po-

sitions

in

their

schedules).

All

other

aspects

of

the

schedules

remained

constant,

no

prompts

were

de-

livered,

and

the

teacher

was

absent.

This

manip-

ulation

was

performed

to

assess

whether

the

boys

were

using

their

schedules

or

following

now-fa-

92

PHOTOGRAPHIC

ACTIVITY

SCHEDULES

miliar

routines.

Because

of

time

constraints,

Steve

did

not

participate

in

the

resequencing

condition.

Generalization.

The

teacher

was

absent

throughout

this

condition.

During

the

generaliza-

tion

phase,

two

of

the

six

original

activities

were

replaced

with

two

similar

but

novel

leisure

activities

for

each

boy.

In

Mike's

schedule,

Colorforms

®

and

Tinker

Toys®

were

replaced

by

a

marble

game

and

coloring;

in

Walt's,

Lincoln

Logs®0

and

Color-

forms®

were

replaced

by

Pipeworks®0

and

Lego®0

blocks;

in

Roy's,

Memory®

and

Cootie®

games

were

replaced

by

Perfection

®

and

a

peg

game;

and

in

Steve's

schedule,

Legions

of

Power®0

and

Ra-

magon®

replaced

Lego®

blocks

and

Perfection

®.

Although

these

new

activities

called

on

previously

acquired

skills,

none

had

ever

been

the

topic

of

instruction,

nor

had

any

of

them

been

components

of

photographic

activity

schedules.

Interobserver

Agreement

Interobserver

agreement

data

were

obtained

for

the

dependent

and

the

independent

variables

in

at

least

30%

of

sessions

across

all

conditions.

Interval-

by-interval

percentage

interobserver

agreement

was

calculated

by

dividing

the

number

of

agreements

by

the

number

of

agreements

plus

disagreements

and

multiplying

by

100%.

Mean

interobserver

agreement

on

the

occurrence

of

on-task

was

96%

(range,

0%

to

100%),

and

mean

agreement

on

nonoccurrence

of

on-task

was

95%

(range,

0%

to

100%).

For

on-schedule,

mean

agreement

was

99%

for

both

occurrence

and

nonoccurrence,

and

ranges

for

both

were

98%

to

100%.

No

verbal

or

gestural

prompts

were

ever

scored;

interobserver

agreement

on

nonoccurrence

was

100%.

Mean

agreement

on

the

occurrence

of

manual

prompts

was

99%

(range,

50%

to

100%),

and

mean

agreement

on

nonoc-

currence

of

manual

prompts

was

99%

(range,

99%

to

100%).

RESULTS

On-Task

Figure

1

shows

levels

of

on-task

for

the

4

par-

ticipants

across

all

conditions.

During

baseline,

the

boys,

with

the

exception

of

Steve,

displayed

con-

siderable

variability

across

sessions;

on-task

was

al-

most

never

scored

for

Steve.

With

each

application

of

teaching

pictorial

schedules,

on-task

immediately

increased

for

all

youths.

Mean

on-task

performance

was

99%

for

Mike,

Walt,

and

Roy,

and

97%

for

Steve.

During

maintenance,

resequencing

of

photographs,

and

generalization

to

novel

photographs,

all

youths

dis-

played

high

and

stable

on-task

performances.

Means

for

Mike

and

Walt

across

these

three

conditions

were

99%;

Roy's

on-task

means

were

97%

in

main-

tenance,

96%

in

resequencing,

and

97%

in

gen-

eralization.

Finally,

Steve's

on-task

averaged

91%

in

maintenance

and

96%

during

generalization;

he

did

not

participate

in

the

picture-resequencing

phase.

On-Schedule

Figure

2

reports

the

participants'

on-schedule

data

during

all

experimental

conditions.

During

baseline,

on-schedule

was

never

scored

for

any

of

the

youths.

Teaching

pictorial

schedules

produced

on-schedule

means

of

99%

for

Mike,

Walter,

and

Roy,

and

96%

for

Steve.

In

maintenance,

on-sched-

ule

means

were

98%, 99%,

97%,

and

91%

for

Mike,

Walter,

Roy,

and

Steve,

respectively.

Fur-

ther,

the

boys

continued

to

use

their

schedules

after

the

photographs

were

resequenced,

obtaining

mean

on-schedule

scores

of

97%

(Mike),

99%

(Walter),

and

95%

(Roy).

The

presentation

of

novel

pho-

tographs

and

materials

during

the

generalization

phase

produced

on-schedule

means

of

99%

for

Mike

and

Walter,

97%

for

Roy,

and

96%

for

Steve.

Independent

Variables

During

baseline,

no

verbal

contacts,

gestures

or

gestural

prompts,

or

manual

prompts

were

record-

ed.

In

the

first

five

sessions

of

the

teaching

phase,

the

percentage

of

intervals

scored

for

the

occurrence

of

manual

prompts

ranged

from

3%

to

8%

for

Mike

(M

=

4%),

0%

to

22%

for

Walt

(M

=

8%),

20%

to

40%

for

Roy

(M

=

23%),

and

8%

to

37%

(M

=

19%)

for

Steve.

The

last

five

training

sessions

for

each

participant

contained

no

manual

prompts,

and

no

verbal

contacts,

gestures,

or

ges-

tural

prompts

were

scored

throughout

this

condi-

tion.

No

prompts

of

any

type

were

scored

during

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maintenance,

resequencing,

or

generalization

phases.

The

boys

completed

these

sessions

without

assis-

tance

or

guidance,

and

from

Session

90

on,

the

teacher

was

no

longer

present.

DISCUSSION

Clinical

data

indicated

that

the

4

participants

had

learned

to

do

a

variety

of

recreational

and

home-living

tasks,

but

baseline

data

showed

that

the

presence

of

leisure

and

homework

materials

did

not

prompt

sustained

engagement.

During

the

teaching

condition,

however,

participants

met

cri-

terion

in

only

13

to

27

sessions;

subsequently,

they

continued

to

be

on-task

and

on-schedule

without

prompts

from

the

teacher,

and

their

schedule-fol-

lowing

skills

generalized

to

new

sequences

of

ac-

tivities

and

to

novel

photographs

and

materials

with

no

additional

training.

The

photographic

schedules

enabled

the

boys

to

display

lengthy

and

complex

chains

of

previously

mastered,

functional

behavior.

Anecdotally,

it

also

appeared

that

when

following

their

schedules,

they

engaged

in

fewer

aberrant

be-

haviors;

this

may

be

a

topic

for

future

research.

The

present

study

extends

previous

investiga-

tions

of

pictorial

and

photographic

cues

in

several

ways.

First,

prompts

were

specified

and

measured.

Most

earlier

studies

used

training

packages

that

included

multiple

prompting

procedures,

making

an

analysis

of

the

effects

of

specific

classes

of

training

stimuli

difficult

or

impossible.

Only

one

other

study

of

visual

cues

measured

all

of

the

prompts

used

in

training

(Johnson

&

Cuvo,

1981);

our

research

isolated

the

effects

of

graduated

guidance.

Our

in-

vestigation

also

measured

another

variable,

on-

schedule,

that

has

been

frequently

discussed

but

seldom

assessed.

Several

other

researchers

have

re-

ported

that

participants

eventually

discontinued

or

modified

their

use

of

photographs

or

pictures.

For

example,

Thinesen

and

Bryan

(1981)

reported

that

after

1

week

of

training,

all

15

participants

stopped

paging

through

their

albums,

using

only

the

first

or

a

randomly

selected

photograph

to

complete

an

entire

grooming

sequence.

Connis

(1979)

noted

that

subjects

eventually

stopped

checking

each

pic-

ture

before

changing

work

tasks.

In

our

study,

the

resequencing

and

generalization

conditions

estab-

lished

that

the

photographs

were

relevant

discrim-

inative

stimuli,

and

that

participants

were

not

mere-

ly

engaging

in

familiar

routines.

The

participants'

consistent

use

of

schedules

may

be

related

to

the

training

procedures.

The

trainer

ensured

that

the

boys

turned

single

pages,

pointed

to

photographs

before

beginning

tasks,

obtained

the

depicted

materials,

and

completed

scheduled

activities

in

sequence.

Graduated

guidance

was

used

to

prevent

errors,

lengthy

delays

that

might

have

interrupted

response

chains,

and

stereotypies

that

might

otherwise

have

become

embedded

in

re-

sponse

chains.

The

boys

continued

to

demonstrate

look-then-do

sequences

throughout

the

study.

The

nature

of

the

target

tasks

may

also

influence

the

posttraining

use

of

visual

cues.

People

who

engage

in

one

repetitive

task

(e.g.,

assembly

or

packaging

tasks)

may

cease

to

use

visual

prompts

because

tasks

are

familiar

and

unchanging.

But

activities

that

are

frequently

resequenced

(e.g.,

gro-

cery

shopping

or

work

assignments

in

an

industrial

kitchen)

may

require

continued

reference

to

pic-

torial

cues.

It

is

interesting

that

in

the

current

investigation,

boys

not

yet

in

training

were

never

observed

to

imitate

the

schedule-following

behavior

of

those

in

the

teaching

phase.

Further,

no

resistance

to

manual

guidance

was

noted.

After

training,

off-task

was

occasionally

scored,

but

children

were

not

observed

to

engage

in

functional

activities

other

than

those

cued

by

their

photographic

schedules.

The

relatively

small

number

of

manual

prompts

required

to

teach

the

participants

to

follow

schedules

may

have

been

related

to

(a)

their

prior

mastery

of

picture-object

correspondence

skills,

(b)

their

previous

acquisition

of

the

types

of

skills

needed

to

complete

depicted

tasks,

and

(c)

the

fading

of

graduated

guidance.

The

manual

prompting

procedure

was

selected

be-

cause

it

was

hoped

that

nonverbal

prompts

deliv-

ered

from

behind

a

youth

would

prevent

perfor-

mance

from

becoming

dependent

on

the

teacher's

presence.

Although

least-to-most

prompt

sequences

are

frequently

used

with

participants

such

as

these,

the

most-to-least

sequence

described

above

was

ef-

fective

in

preventing

errors

that

might

otherwise

96

PHOTOGRAPHIC

ACTIVITY

SCHEDULES

97

have

become

embedded

in

schedule-following

re-

sponse

chains.

Before

this

investigation

began,

the

4

partici-

pants

were

dependent

upon

verbal

prompts

to

re-

main

constructively

engaged

in

appropriate

activ-

ities.

In

the

absence

of

verbal

prompts

from

supervising

adults,

it

appeared

that

stimulus

control

transferred

to

photographs

and

materials

that

were

available

in

the

group

home.

When

the

study

end-

ed,

all

4

boys

were

able

to

display

complex

home-

living

and

recreational

repertoires

for

an

hour,

dur-

ing

which

time

they

frequently

changed

tasks

and

moved

to

different

areas

of

their

group

home

with-

out

adults'

prompts.

Photographic

activity

sched-

ules,

taught

with

graduated

guidance,

became

func-

tional

discriminative

stimuli

that

promoted

sustained

engagement

after

training

ceased

and

fostered

gen-

eralized

responding

to

new

activity

sequences

and

novel

leisure

materials.

REFERENCES

American

Psychiatric

Association.

(1987).

Diagnostic

and

statistical

manual

of

mental

disorders

(3rd

ed.

rev.).

Washington,

DC:

Author.

Billingsley,

F.

F.,

&

Romer,

L.

T.

(1983).

Response

prompting

and

the

transfer

of

stimulus

control:

Methods,

research,

and

a

conceptual

framework.

Journal

of

the

Association

for

the

Severely

Handicapped,

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Received

July

15,

1991

Initial

editorial

decision

September

23,

1991

Revisions

received

December

23,

1991;

March

3,

1992;

October

20,

1992

Final

acceptance

November

9,

1992

Action

Editor,

F.

Charles

Mace