Increasing instructional efficiency when using simultaneous prompting procedure in teaching academic skills to students with autism spectrum disorders

Abstract

A multiple probe design across behaviors replicated across participants was used to examine the effects of a simultaneous prompting procedure delivered along with instructive feedback and observational learning stimuli when teaching academic skills to a small group of students with ASD. Different target skills were taught to each student in the group arrangement. Three 10-and-11-years-old male students participated. Results showed that the simultaneous prompting procedure was effective and the students acquired responding correctly to the instructive feedback and observational learning stimuli, which were exposed during the course of simultaneous prompting training. Furthermore, the simultaneous prompting procedure was effective in the maintenance and generalization of the acquired target skills and they maintained responding correctly to their instructive feedback and observational learning stimuli over time and across persons and materials. Last, social validity findings of the study were encouraging. All these findings provide the groundwork for suggesting teachers to use the simultaneous prompting procedure with the presentation of instructive feedback stimuli and providing opportunity of observational learning when teaching academic skills to students with ASD. Future research is needed to support these findings