Acting, Charting, and Fluency: Using a Modified SAFMEDS Procedure to Increase Recall in a Stage Actor and Non-Actor

Actors need to memorize lines of text to audition for roles with a limited amount of time; therefore, an evidenced-based system may help ensure adequate preparation for auditions. Precision Teaching is a subspecialty within behavior analysis focused on precise definitions and continuous measurement of dimensional features of behavior and analyzes behavioral data to accelerate behavioral repertoires by promoting fluency. One way to promote fluency is through Say All Fast Minute Each Day Shuffled (SAFMEDS), a procedure that has been shown to increase recall through practice and assessment and is a systematic tool for learning that is an improvement over standard flashcard methods. The current study compares the effects of see-say and hear-say learning channel sets on the recall of long theatrical texts for one actor and one non-actor using an adapted alternating treatments design. Results demonstrate that the hear-say learning channel set was most effective for both participants. Additionally, these skills generalized during MESAA tests for both monologues and participants in the absence of the SAFMEDS cards and in novel environments. Participants reported high satisfaction with both treatments, indicating high utility in developing fluency.