Four students (ages 10-14) with moderate mental retardation learned chained tasks with constant time delay and with the system of least prompts. Both strategies produced criterion-level performance; however, constant time delay was more efficient than least prompts in terms of number of sessions, percent of errors, and direct instructional time to…

A progressive time delay procedure in individual instructional sessions using massed-trial presentation was compared to distributed trials presented during transitions from one activity to another. Results with four preschool children with developmental delays indicated that both procedures were implemented reliably, were comparable in efficiency,…

Research that served as background to the study reported in EC 604 974 is described, specifically research on use of the system of least prompts and on the rapidity with which various strategies produce skill acquisition. Unresolved issues concerning use of the system of least prompts with small groups are also discussed. (JDD)

Thirteen studies were conducted that focused on whether preschool and elementary school students with mild and moderate disabilities learned target and non-target behaviors when two types of instructional manipulations were made to direct instructional trial sequences. In one type, the related, non-target behaviors were presented during…

This instructional module describes procedures for training prospective and practicing teachers to use two strategies for enhancing the efficiency of instructing children with mild disabilities: manipulating attending cues and responses and using instructive feedback. The module contains the following information: (a) a description of the…