Scheduled for Poster Session: Research Strands Across the Alliance, Thursday, April 10, 2008, 3:15 PM - 4:45 PM, Convention Center: Exhibit Hall, Reseach Consortium Poster Sessions


Effects of Most to Least Prompting Procedure on Ball Playing

Mehmet Yanardag, Eskisehir Adult Mentally Retarded Women Care and Rehabilitation Center, Eskisehir, Turkey, Nevin Ergun, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey, Ilker Yilmaz, Anadolu University, Eskisehir, Turkey and Ferman Konukman, SUNY-Brockport, Brockport, NY

Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that causes delays in verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction as well as ritualistic, compulsive behaviours (Loovis & Ersing, 1979). Children with autism may demonstrate significant deficiencies in gross and fine motor tasks (Smith, 2001). These difficulties may be related to muscular weakness or sensory integration issues. Problems with sensory regulation may affect the production and coordination of movements that are critical in communication and social interactions (Autism National Committee, 1996). Rehabilitation programs should emphasize fundamental motor skills, individual games and sports that increase skill level (Yilmaz et al., 2004). Although there have been studies about the effects of most to least prompting in the literature for single and chain behaviours (Tekin & Kircaali, 2001) and swimming (Yilmaz et al., 2004), there has been no research about the effects of this procedure on ball playing skills of children with autism. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of the most to least prompting procedure on ball playing skills of a child with autism. The most to least prompting procedure provides the most amount of cues at the beginning and then the amount of cues deceases within a certain time interval and order (Duker, 2004; Tekin & Kircaali- Iftar, 2001). The activity was throwing a ball at a target with preferred hand. A single-subject ABA reversal design (Jones, 2003) was applied to evaluate the effectiveness of most to least prompting procedure on ball playing skills. Subject was a five years old male child with autism. Data were collected over the course of 12-week, three times a week, and an hour per session. The generalization effects of most to least prompting procedures were tested using a camera recording before and after the12-week period via upper limb coordination test (Duger et al., 1999). The results of the study were analyzed via graphic illustrations. The findings of this study indicated that most to least prompting procedure was an effective instructional procedure on teaching ball playing skills of a child with autism. However, this study has limitations such as the characteristics of participant, test, and the measurements that were applied. Therefore, further studies should address the effects of most to least prompting procedure on different play skills, genders, ages and disabilities.
Keyword(s): adapted physical activity, early childhood, motor skills

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