Task instructions for persons with severe intellectual disability: Reducing the number of instruction occasions after the acquisition phase

During the first part of the study, eight tasks were taught to four partici pants with severe intellectual disability. A portable computer-aided system was used that presented one pictorial instruction per task step, individua lly. During the second part of the study, the same computer-aided system wa s used but the number of instruction occasions available for the tasks was reduced. In one condition, the system presented all the step instructions b ut mostly in small clusters rather than individually. In another condition, the system presented only some of the instructions. Data for the first par t of the study showed that the participants managed to perform 83-97% of th e task steps correctly. Data for the second part of the study showed that t he condition in which instructions were clustered was more effective in mai ntaining high percentages of correct performance. Implications of the findi ngs are discussed. Copyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.