Teaching Employees with Intellectual Disabilities to Manage Changing Work Routines Using Varied Sight-Word Checklists

Abstract

This study examined the effects of teaching employees with moderate intellectual disabilities to use sight-word checklists as antecedent prompts to self-initiate job tasks in varied and novel sequences. The intervention package consisted of (a) sight word reading and comprehension instruction, and (b) self-management training using first a consistently ordered sight-word checklist and then varied checklists in which the word order representing job sequences varied across sessions. A multiple probe design across participants was used to evaluate (a) the effects of sight word instruction and self-management training on the participants' self-initiations of job tasks, and b) the effects of a consistently ordered (i.e., single exemplar) versus varied (i.e., multiple exemplars) checklists on the participants' performance across novel job sequences. Results indicated that the training package was effective in teaching the employees to use sight-word checklists to initiate job tasks, but only when the employees were trained on varied checklists were they able to initiate job tasks across novel varied job sequences. The advantages of instructing across varied sight-word checklists for promoting independence in changing work environments are discussed.