Expert Guiding Technology to Help Individuals With Developmental Challenges Build Life and Vocational Skills

Clinical trials will evaluate the efficacy of expert guiding technology to support instructors to better help individuals with developmental challenges due to ASD and ID learn life and vocational skills. Single Case Research Designs (SCRD) will be used to evaluate expert guiding technology interventions to support Task Analysis. SCRDs are a viable alternative to large group studies such as randomized clinical trials. Single case studies involve repeated measures, and manipulation of an independent variable. SCRD studies allow for rigorous experimental evaluation of intervention effects and provide a strong basis for establishing causal inferences.

Research design: A multiple baseline across tasks or participants will be used to evaluate the impact of the expert guiding technology on staff and consumers' performance.

Dependent Variables. DV1: Staff performance: The percentage of teaching steps correctly implemented will be calculated and monitored. The teaching steps are predetermined including what types of prompts will be used for each step of the task analysis of the identified consumer's adaptive living skills, record data on consumer's performance, and the timing of delivery of reinforcers and prompts. DV2: Consumers' performance: The percentage of Independent completion of the steps of task analyses for identified daily living skills will be calculated and monitored. The completed step is considered "independent" when the consumer completed the step without prompts from the staff within five seconds of the initial instruction (discriminative stimulus) given or the completion of the previous step. DV3: Consumers' performance: the amount of time taken to independent completion.

Independent Variable: Versions of expert guiding technology to support instructors in providing Task Analyses instruction while collecting data on consumer performance.

GAINS: During the GAINS sessions, the staff will follow the pre-programmed teaching protocol in the expert guiding technology. The system will provide step-by-step verbal prompts to the staff throughout the sessions. This includes which prompt to use for each step, when to provide reinforcers, and which target task to work on. The system will also monitor the consumer's progress and notify the staff if the target task is mastered or not.

Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) remains the most effective and scientifically-validated approach to remediate the deficits caused by Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and intellectual disabilities (ID). Clinical trials will evaluate the efficacy of expert guiding technology to support instructors to better help individuals with developmental challenges due to ASD and ID learn life and vocational skills. Single Case Research Designs (SCRD) will be used to evaluate expert guiding technology interventions to support Task Analysis. SCRDs are a viable alternative to large group studies such as randomized clinical trials. Single case studies involve repeated measures, and manipulation of an independent variable. SCRD studies allow for rigorous experimental evaluation of intervention effects and provide a strong basis for establishing causal inferences.

Research design: A multiple baseline across tasks or participants will be used to evaluate the impact of the expert guiding technology on staff and consumers' performance.

Dependent Variables. DV1: Staff performance: The percentage of teaching steps correctly implemented will be calculated and monitored. The teaching steps are predetermined including what types of prompts will be used for each step of the task analysis of the identified consumer's adaptive living skills, record data on consumer's performance, and the timing of delivery of reinforcers and prompts. DV2: Consumers' performance: The percentage of Independent completion of the steps of task analyses for identified daily living skills will be calculated and monitored. The completed step is considered "independent" when the consumer completed the step without prompts from the staff within five seconds of the initial instruction (discriminative stimulus) given or the completion of the previous step. DV3: Consumers' performance: the amount of time taken to independent completion.

Independent Variable: Versions of expert guiding technology to support instructors in providing Task Analyses instruction while collecting data on consumer performance.

GAINS: During the GAINS sessions, the staff will follow the pre-programmed teaching protocol in the expert guiding technology. The system will provide step-by-step verbal prompts to the staff throughout the sessions. This includes which prompt to use for each step, when to provide reinforcers, and which target task to work on. The system will also monitor the consumer's progress and notify the staff if the target task is mastered or not.

Procedural fidelity: procedural fidelity checklist will be implemented to ensure the accuracy of implementation of baseline and intervention procedures. The percentage of accurate implementation will be calculated by dividing the number of steps implemented accurately by the total steps of procedures multiplying by 100.

Develop and conduct survey of staff and consumers to evaluate social validity of expert guiding technology.

Eligibility Criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

- Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders and Intellectual Disabilities

Exclusion Criteria:

- none