Comparison of progressive prompt delay with and without instructive feedback.

Area of Science:

• Applied Behavior Analysis
• Developmental Psychology
• Special Education

Background:

• Children with autism and developmental delays often require specialized instructional strategies.
• Progressive prompt delay (PPD) is a technique used to fade prompts during learning.
• Instructive feedback (IF) provides additional information to learners.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the effectiveness and efficiency of PPD with IF versus PPD alone.
• To evaluate the impact of IF on learning for young children with autism and developmental delays.
• To assess the maintenance of learned behaviors after instruction cessation.

Main Methods:

• An adapted alternating treatment design was employed.
• The study included 3 young children diagnosed with autism and 1 child with developmental delays.
• Instructional arrangements compared PPD with IF to PPD without IF.

Main Results:

• Children with autism and developmental delays demonstrated learning when PPD was combined with IF.
• Instructive feedback proved to be an effective instructional method.
• The combination of PPD and IF enhanced instructional efficiency.
• Participants maintained 58% to 92% of acquired behaviors 8-9 weeks post-instruction.

Conclusions:

• The combination of PPD and IF is a viable and efficient instructional strategy for young children with autism and developmental delays.
• Instructive feedback plays a crucial role in facilitating learning.
• Further research is recommended to explore limitations and expand upon these findings.