Background/Purpose Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that causes delays in verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction as well as ritualistic, compulsive behaviours. Although there have been studies about the effects of most to least prompting in the literature for single and chain behaviours (Tekin & Kircaali, 2001), there has been no research about the effects of this procedure for reducing stereo typical behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of this procedure for reducing stereotypical behaviors via land exercises for a child with autism.
Method 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). Subject was a seven years old boy with autism. Land exercise program consists of jogging on a treadmill, trampoline hops, throwing a ball to the target, and hobby horse. Data were collected using a camera over the course of 12-week, three times a week, and 40 minutes per session. The total number of the stereotypical behaviors on each session was recorded.
Analysis/Results The results of this study were analyzed via graphic illustrations. The results indicated that the mean number of stereotypical behaviors during training and follow-up periods was 7.07, during sessions were 2.16, and before 12 week and after were 12.6 and 2.6.
Conclusions Results showed that most to least prompting procedure via land exercise program could be effective for reducing stereotypical behaviors for a child with autism.