A PRACTICAL STRATEGY TO INCREASE PARTICIPATION AND REDUCE CHALLENGINGBEHAVIOR DURING LEISURE SKILLS PROGRAMMING

The effects of prompting, reinforcer sampling, and assistance on parti cipation and challenging behavior of two adults with severe disabiliti es were examined under three conditions during a leisure program. For baseline, leisure materials were absent, but there was opportunity for social interaction. Next, leisure materials were provided, but partic ipants were neither prompted nor assisted to use these materials. Duri ng intervention, participants sampled the materials and were assisted to use each item during a 5-minute prompting sequence. A reversal desi gn demonstrated that the prompting sequence was associated with increa sed participation and reduced challenging behavior. These improvements were maintained as the frequency of the prompting sequence was reduce d from four times to once per session.