Replication of an evaluation of the system of least prompts to teach symbol use to a child with deafblindness

Abstract

In the field of deafblindness, there is currently a high need for research evaluating instructional strategies. There is a call for evidence evaluating how to teach, including the parameters of systematic instruction for deafblind learners. The current study aimed to add to the recent research targeting instructional methods with children with multiple disabilities, including deafblindness, by replicating the procedures of a recent study that evaluated the effect of system of least prompts (SLP) on the use of tangible symbols by children who are deafblind. A concurrent multiple probe design across three symbols with a fourth symbol presented nonconcurrently was used to evaluate the efficacy of SLP to teach symbol use to a 13-year-old male. The participant met the mastery criterion for the first symbol but did not increase symbol use for the remaining symbols; these results differed from the original study. Results suggest that additional research evaluating the efficacy of SLP for skill acquisition with this population is needed to determine for whom and under which circumstances the instructional strategy is efficacious.